Thinking Out Loud
by aleglessaligator
Summary: Sequel to All of the Stars. Follows Harry and Charlie through their lives after the Battle of Hogwarts as they begin their lives together and become parents to Teddy.
1. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

**A/N: I do not own the Harry Potter universe or any of the characters in it. This is a sequel to All of the Stars and I'd suggest that you read that first as otherwise some things won't make a whole lot of sense**

 **Empty Chairs at Empty Tables**

 _Heroes of Hogwarts_

 _By Natalia Donnelly_

 _The Wizarding World is once again free to live in peace and prosperity all due to the heroics of Harry Potter and his supporters. Everyone knows the tale of the boy-who-lived but he is now the man-who-conquered. Contrary to many reports he was neither captured nor fled during the horrors of the past year. Instead he spent the past year learning about You-Know-Who and how to defeat him. His actions paid off as many of the witches and wizards who fought alongside him can attest to. "We thought he was dead when he was brought out of the forest but then this shield turned up in the middle of the hall and he appeared." Miss Vance, 40, states. Mr McMillan, 18, agrees saying "We all knew Harry was something special when he taught us in 5th year but that seems to have only skimmed the surface of what he's capable of. He's survived multiple brushes with death after all". I believe we all have to agree that Mr Potter is a most remarkable wizard._

 _He is not the only one however, with his absence at Hogwarts this year Mr Neville Longbottom became the leader and beacon of hope that so many needed inside the castle's walls. A close personal friend of Mr Potter's they share many similarities as they both grew up without their parents due to the darkest of magic. As many will remember Mr Longbottom's parents, Frank and Alice, were respected aurors until tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange amongst others. They have been patients of St Mungo's ever since. Their fighting spirit lives on their son as he refused to join You-Know-Who's new order and used a sword, rumoured to be Godric Gryffindor's own, to kill his familiar. Previous to this he had been hiding in a secret part of the castle after death eaters were unable to capture his grandmother and guardian Mrs Augusta Longbottom._

 _For all their efforts the castle still might have been lost except for one Charles Michael Weasley , older brother to Mr Potter's best friend Ronald, as he had spent the war gaining allies for the light from the European mainland where he works as a dragon tamer. Miss Smith, 16, explains that this was not all he did "It was chaos before he arrived we were all coming out of the secret passageway and we only had Professor Slughorn with us as well as the prefects such as myself that were too young to fight to maintain order. At first I thought he was just another of the villagers getting ready to help but then he started to organise everyone. He split us into those that were old enough to fight and those that had to stay behind. Then he got all of us with wizarding relatives to use the floos and ask for their help. Before he led all the adults off to the battle. He even gave me a special coin to look after that acted as a beacon for people to apparate to if they hadn't been to Hogsmeade before." Coverage continues on pg 3-11_

 **xXx**

Harry couldn't read anymore. Right there on the front page was an article about the 'Heroes of Hogwarts' without any mention of those like the Lupins or Colin Creevey who had given their life so that the rest of them could be free. He was sincerely regretting asking to see what exactly the press had been writing about whilst he recovered. If only Ginny hadn't mentioned it during their conversation in the Gryffindor common room while he had explained exactly what the three of them had been doing for the past year. If only he'd been a little less curious about it. They were the true heroes. Every last one of them.

It had been a little more than 24 hours since he had woken up from his magical coma and he had no idea about what to do with himself. After they had officially become a couple last night Charlie had shown him the final casualty list, 50 people had lost their lives that night, never to see the dawn of a world without Voldemort. He had also spent time with Teddy and knew that he would be raising him not just because there wasn't anyone else obvious, Andromeda had held double duty as godmother and grandmother, but because he couldn't cope with the idea that Teddy could have as miserable a childhood as he had. It wouldn't have been a fear of magic for him as there was no way that he could be put with a muggle family with his special abilities. However there was still significant anti-werewolf feeling and they had absolutely no idea how far along the spectrum Teddy would end up. Besides he couldn't bear the idea of ten, fifteen even twenty years down the line having to have a conversation with his godson of why he hadn't wanted him. There had always been a gap between he and Sirius for it , that he had given him to Hagrid rather than let someone else go after Pettigrew. He Had grown too independent way too young. That wasn't to say that he hadn't loved his godfather or that he hadn't mourned him because he had, he just hadn't let him all the way in. Now all he had to worry was Charlie's reaction to finding out that his new boyfriend now came with added baby.

"Hey, Harry!" He heard a familiar voice call from behind him

"How did you find me?" It wasn't such a stupid question as he was currently invisible and had sneaked out before any of his dorm mates had woken up.

"Forgot about the map, mate." Ron replied.

"Oh" he replied not being able to help his blush.

"Do you think you could take the cloak off. I hate talking to you with it on."

"Sure no problem." Harry lifted the cloak off and Ron continued.

"I've got you some food. Mione thought you wouldn't want to come to the great hall what with all the staring and touching. Merlin it was bad enough for the two of us. I can't believe I was ever a prat enough to think fame would be a good thing."

"Where is she by the way?"

"Where do you think? She's reacquainting herself with the library." Harry burst out laughing it was so like her. She's actually researching reversing all the charms she put on her parents didn't want to jinx herself by looking it up before in case she didn't get a chance. I don't know whether she ever told you but it was quite a bit more than just the memory stuff. She also found something that made people unplottable like a building so they couldn't be found with magic and some basic magic repelling ones as well."

"How's she going to find them, then?"

"Something called a yellow pages, I think. Apparently it tells muggles where other muggles are. Have to wait until we get a chance to get into the muggle world though to start to look. We're planning on going out to Australia when we get a chance you know after the funerals and Fred's more settled. You should come to it wouldn't be proper for us to head off on an adventure without you. Plus it'd do you good to get away from all the fawning."

"Thanks for the offer. It means a lot that you'd want me to tag along but I've got Teddy and Charlie to think of although I'm not sure when he's heading back to Romania." This made something occur to Harry and he blurted out the thought "So you're not going to come back then?"

"Nah I was never the studious type and it'll probably be the end of summer before we can go anyway. Can't see mum being particularly happy with me swanning off to the other side of the world after not having any contact for a year. Besides Hermione already asked McGonagall and Flitwick what the process is for taking your NEWTs independently when they came to tell us all about the 8th year offer. We haven't discussed it what with everything else going on but I think we both said goodbye to school after Dumbledore. I mean I don't feel like a child anymore, you know? Plus we missed out on a year of experiences for the rest of them. I mean I know our year was hardly fun and games but at least we were relatively free whereas all of them lived with cruel tyranny no matter what Snape did to protect them. Still can't believe the git was on our side though."

"Yeah all those times we suspected him and it never was. I know what you mean about Hogwarts too. I mean it was my first home, the first place I can remember I was unconditionally accepted by anyone, but it doesn't feel like home anymore. I can't imagine walking down that corridor and not seeing Fred almost be killed or go into the hall and see Lupin's body there, it's got tainted for me."

"At least we'll be able to see those that do return often. The rules are going to be much more lax for the returners. As they'll be their own house they'll be allowed out every weekend not just Hogsmeade trips and no curfew. McGonagall said that it would be a sort of stepping stone between school and work. I feel a little sorry for Nev though I mean he would be shoo in for head boy but they're keeping the prefects to the usual years."

"Yeah I see your point but he stood up to Voldemort in front of everyone, destroyed a horcrux and got his grandmother's approval so I don't think he'll feel too hard done by even if he was the type to."

"Yeah you should have seen the girls around him particularly when Charlie shooed them away and you were missing."

"There were girls all over Charlie?!"

"Oops sorry didn't mean to mention that, but nothing happened he was even curter to them than you are and he had Fleur's pregnancy belly as a shield. Still basically sprinted away with Hagrid though. He and Fleur are helping to heal the injured animals. Apparently Veela are particularly good with nature. Can't say I was paying all that much attention to the explanation."

"Yeah Charlie said that's what he would be doing last night. Apparently there's not many around who could be useful and most of them have skills that are better used in the reconstruction so the forest's been a bit neglected what with Hagrid's absence and then for the past few days he refused to leave my side rather than help.

"Yeah the three of us didn't leave the tent, most time we've spent together for ages. I mean apart from our worry about you it was actually really nice to spend so much time with him."

"I should check on Teddy. Do you wanna come? I left him with the house elves when I snuck out."

"Yeah sure thing." They got up off the stands and headed back into the castle.

 **A/N: The Yellow Pages is what brits, such as myself, call a phone book. Plus this is set in book timeline so it's May '98 and the internet was still quite rare at least in my memory. My family got our computer hooked up to AOL that year and I was the first of my friends to have access so I felt it wouldn't be out of character for even Hermione not to know about it or for it not to be that useful.**


	2. I Will Wait

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the Harry Potter Universe**

 **A/N: Forgot to say this with the first chapter but the story's title comes from the Ed Sheeran song of the same name. 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables' is the from the musical Les Miserables and 'I Will Wait' is a Mumford and Son song. Also this is unBeta'd and so all mistakes are mine.**

 **I Will Wait**

Charlie was cranky. Rather than being able to spend time with his new boyfriend, the guy he had spent the last two years pinning for, he had spent the day looking after injured animals all day. Normally this would be some kind of heaven for him but now not only was it cutting into his time with Harry but he had to conceal from Bill, and the rest of the family, that in about 4 months he would be getting a daughter. The unicorns had given it away. The Herd hadn't let him or Hagrid anywhere near them but had been all over Fleur and her baby bump. At least his mum would be overjoyed, a granddaughter to dote on would make her world complete with all her children coming through the war more or less unharmed and Percy reconciling with the family. Fred's broken spine would barely put a dent in their business as the twins had already got to work enchanting his wheelchair to do all sorts of things it definitely wasn't originally designed for. This was on top of being asked about how best to protect Hogwarts in the future from both pranksters and more dangerous foes. They had both grumbled for about half an hour about selling out future pranksters before jumping in with their usual enthusiasm

His day had been made worse by the large amount of damage the battle had caused to the forest, he had tripped over various bits of the battle's detritus as made his way through it. Although he couldn't, in all honesty, be that disappointed that the Acromantula herd had been thinned dramatically the most of the other species were similarly affected. In particular the Unicorns as there had been no surviving foals from this year because the large amount of dark magic being performed. He could only hope that none of the students had actually slain or even hurt one so that they could avoid the terrible half-life that would be imposed for their folly. Most of his day had been spent looking after Bowtruckles, of all things, and searching unsuccessfully for any injured Thestrals. It was unclear whether none had been injured or they were just hiding from any human at the moment. After all even the younger students would probably be able to see them now and didn't that thought just break his heart. He had gone through his entire Hogwarts career being unable to see them although he had studied them both at OWL and NEWT but for this generation there would be no such innocence.

As he stomped into the Great Hall with a deep scowl as he wondered how exactly Harry had filled his day. Probably playing with Teddy he decided, reminding him they needed to have a conversation about the boy and the rest of their future before too much time passed. They had never discussed it in any detail, Charlie now understood that his boyfriend had never truly expected to survive even before he knew of the Horcrux and hadn't wanted to think of the life he would never get to live. After his epiphany he had got a little panicked that Harry wouldn't want him now that he was free of Voldemort but he had been proven very pleasurably wrong on that count when they'd spent the evening making out in an empty classroom. They hadn't spent the whole night together Harry had returned to his dorm and Charlie to his sleeping bag in the great hall as it would have been far too conspicuous to do otherwise.

"Hey Charlie, good day? Fleur got back ages ago" Bill greeted him as he sat down at the Gryffindor table. His older brother seemed to be the only member of his family about although there were plenty of other people around and disconcertingly large number staring at him. He tried to pretend he hadn't noticed the various people batting their eyelashes at him. Apparently his preferences had made the gossip rounds as he was getting far more boys looking hopeful whereas the girls tended to look downhearted.

"Yeah it was fine. She stayed to the edges with the unicorn herd but Hagrid and I went much deeper they weren't too happy about any males being around them how'd your team get on." Now that Harry was better reconstruction work had started, it was odd after all most people hadn't been guarding him but apparently hadn't wanted to begin without knowing the saviour was okay. His brother was leading a team helping with the structural damage as he had done similar work in Egypt.

"Yeah good. We think that the castle's magic may be helping us to rebuild as it was much easier than it ever was in tombs."

"That's good more chance of it actually being ready for September. Where's everyone else?"

"Fleur's napping. Dad's acting as go between the ministry and Hogwarts so he's probably in a floo somewhere. Mum and Gin are helping to return everything to the correct families. The twins are god knows where doing gods know what. Perce has gone back to the ministry, so we probably won't see him for a while, to help them charge Umbridge and others for what they did for the last year. The other three were in the library but they said they'd be taking Teddy to the kitchen for something to eat to avoid the crowds."

"Thanks for the rundown." He said getting up

"Hey where are you going? you just sat down."

"I've changed my mind, think I'm going to shower first, I'm not smelling so pretty. It shouldn't be so crowded with most people here. I'll pick something up from the kitchens later"

"Fine but you're missing out on a truly excellent stew." Bill called after him before returning to his previous conversation.

 **xXx**

After a quick shower, he really had needed one, he headed to the kitchens hoping to catch Harry. An ex, who happened to be a Hufflepuff, had once shown him the way to get in. After tickling the pear the painting swung open to show a completely adorable picture. Sitting in front of the fire was his man rocking a sleepy looking Teddy and singing ' _Hush little baby_ ' quietly to him. He hadn't grown up with it but one of the muggleborns at the reserve sang it to her kids and he'd had a soft spot for it ever since. When Harry looked up he gave Charlie a blinding smile but continued with his song and he made his way over after signaling to one of the elves that he'd like a bowl of stew.

"Hey _micuţo_ , haven't gotten to see you all day." He said nuzzling his nose into the side of Harry's face.

"Yeah and whose fault is that, Lee? You were the one who ran off to look after the besties when you could have been having fun with us." Harry teased lightly before continuing "We even got Madame Pince to smile at us when we went to visit Auntie Hermione in the Library. You know know all about Quidditch don't you cub your Uncle Ron trying to get you started young, between you and me he doesn't want to be the only cannons fan in the family, and we found out you're going be a prankster just like your parents, aren't you?" Harry rubbed the now sleeping child's belly. "Bursting out crying like that when we caught that couple snogging. Nearly jumped out of their skin, poor things, hearing an invisible baby crying." Charlie laughed at the picture Harry created before asking,

"An eventful day then?"

"Yeah I guess so but it wasn't all good. Had to go to Madame Pomphrey as it seems my magic hasn't completely calmed down. I tried to summon his nappy bag only it came whizzing right at me and would have knocked me out if it wasn't for Ron's keeping skills. It still gave me a nosebleed on the swing. She said I shouldn't do anymore magic until I can see a magic specialist at Mungo's just in case I make it worse in some way. I have no idea how though. I mean I wouldn't have woken up if it still needed fixing. My wand probably just got a little over excited about being used again as it's been hanging around my neck for a few months when I was using Malfoy's"

"Your wand got broken?"

"Yeah didn't I tell you?" Charlie shook his head and Harry quickly recounted his and Hermione's adventure at Godric's Hollow and how he'd got the wand he'd been using.

"Yeah maybe but please be careful for my sake at least. I know it sucks but it's not like they're going to make 'the chosen one' wait around is it? Probably chuck out whoever they were seeing just to fix you a couple of minutes quicker."

"Ugh. I hate how true that is." Charlie's food arrived just then and he thanked Kreacher, who had brought it over although he hadn't been the original elf.

"This looks great, thank you Kreacher. Bill was telling me how good it was when he was eating in the hall.

"You didn't?"

"Obviously"

"Well...you are related to Ron."

"Oy! He told me you were in the kitchen so I headed to you. We have quite a lot to discuss."

"Yeah we do. Kreacher could you take Teddy to Ron or if you can't find him Mrs Weasley and ask them to look after him until I collect him"

"Of course, Master Harry"

"Thank you." Harry handed Teddy over and the elf popped away. He had been assured that it wouldn't damage Teddy in any way. "So where'd you want to start?"

"What happens next, I guess. I've got the rest of the summer away from the reserve no problem as I haven't had a proper holiday in a while. Then I'm not sure it depends on what your plans are. If you don't plan on coming back here then we could go back to Romania. Other tamers have kids so Teddy wouldn't grow up isolated there's even something of a school for when he's old enough. If you don't want to leave the UK then I could get a job in Control at the ministry so we'd able to meet at weekends. McGonagall said that 8th years would be able to leave at weekends…" He broke off when he noticed tears falling down Harry's cheeks.

"It's been less than a week and you thought of Teddy."

"Of course I did. I mean unless you don't want me to…" He trailed off again feeling and looking very uncertain.

"You utterly silly, _beautiful_ man. These are tears of happiness, you dolt. You thought about Teddy. I didn't even have to say anything and you'd already thought about him. Not just thought about him but planned for his schooling!"

"Well yeah. He's part of you now so he's going to be a part of me too. I want all of you but I'm prepared to wait until for it. I don't just mean sex although that too but for moving in and bonding and potentially more kids if we want. You're so young I want you to get to have every dream you ever thought of."

"I used to think what would happen after I died, you in particular, but sometimes it was everyone at the Burrow or some other occasion. My nights used to be filled with you smiling at some other guy dressed like Bill was on his wedding day. You were so gorgeous and you were smiling at some other guy, never saw his face, like you do at me. Or sometimes you'd be at a playground you'd be swinging a little girl around and around. She'd be giggling like crazy then she'd hug you call you dad and you'd hold hands on the way home. So that's I want. It's all I've ever truly wanted a happy home filled with love like you grew up with. I'm not saying I'm ready right now in fact I'm clearly not but when it's right and you ask I want you to know that I'll say yes in less than a heartbeat."

"Good to know. Takes that stress away at least. You still haven't answered my question though"

"Romania. I need to get away if I didn't have you and the cub I'd be heading off to Australia with Ron and Hermione to locate her parents. I've never been outside the UK before. Will I need to learn Romanian? How are we going to tell everyone? She's going to kill us you know? Living together without being bonded and being so far away. She probably hoped that once you'd settled down you'd come home like Bill."

Charlie chuckled. "Slow down a little, you won't need to learn Romanian as the reserve uses English as its common language. As for Mum she'll be fine after she gets a good rant in. Then she'll calm down and try and lure us to stay with her cooking and if that fails there's always 'come home fudge'"

"It is very good fudge...maybe it'll work".

"mmmhmmm. No but seriously they'll be fine with it. They just want their children, including you, to be happy. Plus with having Teddy it'll be much easier to get home as he'll get us priority treatment in the Portkey queue."

"Huh?"

"Those with priority status get bumped to the front of the queue for international travel. It's part of the reason that I'm never home for Christmas. A single man is very low down the list and then even if I were allocated one they're horrendously expensive at that time of year."

"I'd wondered about that...but I didn't want to ask."

"It's fine with me, if I'd wanted money and fame then I would have taken up one of those scout offers for a Quidditch side."

"You were really scouted?"

"Yeah but never very seriously as I decided to concentrate on NEWTs rather than carry on as captain in my last year."

"Yeah I knew that you'd quit, I used to go and look at yours and my dad's names on the list of Gryffindor Captains when I was missing you."

"Well that's adorable" he lent in for a kiss which quickly became heated and Harry was moaning into his mouth and he could he feel their erections sliding against each other with their jeans in between. " _micuţo,_ babe, fuck, we need to stop otherwise we're going to the elves one hell of a show."

"Come on then, let's go make out in a secret passageway. I've got my cloak with me, should cover both of us if you give me a piggyback."

"Wait, I need to grab the rest of my stew."

"See totally related Ron." Harry said laughingly before jumping on his back and draping the cloak over the two of them.


	3. Even My Dad Does Sometimes

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter world including its characters.**

 **A/N: Well three weeks in and trying to post once a week has already gone to hell. I blame the large amount of alcohol I drank last weekend. Also the title comes from another Ed Sheeran song.**

 **Even My Dad Does Sometimes**

In some ways he was glad to get the most devastating out of the way first. It had been left to him to organise Remus, Tonks and Andromedas' funeral. There was no one else as the only living blood relatives, as Ted had been an only child, were Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. So it was left to him as the last Black's heir and Teddy's godfather to decide where their final resting place would be. After thinking about it he had decided on Hogsmeade cemetery. He thought Remus would want to be close to the place where he had been happiest the same held true for the Tonkses as Hogwarts was where she had fallen in love with each other. Unfortunately there was no body to recover for Ted so instead he had commissioned a headstone for him, he would do the same for Sirius once his name had been properly cleared.

He was incredibly glad they would be returning to the Burrow after the funerals. The past 4 days, since regaining consciousness, had been so hard. If he wasn't wearing his cloak and/or hiding he couldn't get a moment's peace. Everyone thought that he should be centre stage now as their Saviour. There was a completely baffling campaign for him to become minister in Witch Weekly. This was on top of caring for a small infant and planning his parents and grandparents funerals with the only one he had ever gone to being Dumbledore's which he guessed had been unusual even in the Wizarding World. Mrs Weasley had been a godsend helping with all the bits and pieces required and Charlie had helped when he could although he was still spending the vast majority of his time in the forest and they were still a secret to most people.

"You ready to go?" Ron asked as they finished dressing in their dorm. They were both wearing what they had to Bill and Fleur's wedding as they were the only remotely formal attire either had with them.

"No but that doesn't stop it being time anyway."

"Got your remembrance?"

Harry checked his pocket again and nodded. They had taken the choice that instead of a single eulogy anyone who wanted to speak as long as they each spoke for under three minutes. Once he reached the group waiting in the common room, Harry took Teddy out of Charlie's arms and felt his hand squeezed tightly. His boyfriends silent sign of support.

It was a bizarre experience walking to Hogsmeade with no sound but the bird song to accompany them. They led the way along with Neville, Luna and Hagrid who they had met in the entrance hall. However they were not alone as many of the students who had had Lupin as a professor walked behind along with the entire faculty. The rest of the mourners would be apparating directly into Hogsmeade. As they neared the village his friends closed rank around him and Teddy with a fluidity that made him wonder when on earth they had time to form such a plan never mind actually practice it. He was wedged tightly between Fred on one side and Mrs Weasley on the other whilst the rest of the family formed a ring making it practically impossible for anyone to get a shot of him either by camera or wand.

There was already a large people of waiting and he hoped they were there for the right reasons rather than to catch a glimpse of him. Happily he could spot at least some familiar faces in the crowd. As well as what looked every single surviving auror, including Kingsley, in their formal robes standing out in red as everyone was in far drabber colours. There was a large numbers of ex-order members as well that he remembered seeing whilst staying at Grimmauld Place. He could see various people waving at either Bill or Charlie and he guessed they were Tonks's contemporaries from school who had also attended with them. However none broke the circle formation until they took their seats signalling the rest to do the same.

The service slid by much like Dumbledore's had until it was time for the remembrances. Harry was the first to stand and he took out his sheet of parchment and began. "I only met Andromeda and Ted Tonks once and only long enough for them to open their house as a temporary safe house. They were warm and courageous and that was the type of woman they raised their daughter to be. She would never back down from a fight when she felt she could be of use. She was even brave enough to counter Moody in tactical decisions so that I didn't have travel via Greenland the first time I met her." There was a snort from various order members and his friends who had been told that particular story. "Tonks could brighten the darkest of days and not just by her hair. I am sure that there are others that will talk of her dedicated service in her work as an Auror or what she got up to Hogwarts so I will leave that to them. "

He visibly gathered himself before continuing he wanted to get this right not just for himself but for his parents and Sirius who were unable speak. "Before anything else Remus Lupin was a good and brave man. I have met true monsters and I can say with absolute certainty he was not one of them. In fact one such demon is the main reason that I first met a Professor Lupin rather than growing up with an Uncle Moony. He was my parents' and godfather's best friend and remained loyal to them till the last. During both wars he infiltrated Greyback and the other UK packs. he often sacrificed his comfort and safety so that he could be of more use in defeating Voldemort. In both wars he was sent into Greyback's and others packs to spy on the wolves. As a teacher he was caring and knowledgeable and was always ready to go the extra distance for a pupil including offering me 1-on-1 lessons when the dementors caused me to faint. All there is left to say is I swear to you is that your son will know and to hurry along your brothers are waiting for you." It was only as he walked back to his seat that he broke. He didn't even notice that he passed Neville going the other direction as he tried to get his tears under control. Hermione handed Teddy back to him and he buried his face in his head to calm himself so it was a shock when he heard his friend's voice.

"Prof. Lupin was the first person to properly to believe in me and my magic with no reference to my parents. He was a brilliant teacher and the school has been poorer for his resignation. Be at peace sir."

He let the next few float past him as they weren't about Lupin although he did try to note their faces so he could ask them for stories and any photos they could spare for Teddy. Then a woman's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Remus Lupin was one of life's quiet heroes. I owe him my and my husband's life. We were both bitten as small children, much like himself, during the worst days of the first war. However he was able to get us both to safety without Greyback's knowledge so that we could prosper elsewhere. At the time I thought that would be the end of our relationship but instead we became close a few years later when he acted as a tutor to our, and others, children. "

Finally the long queue ended although they had been predominantly about Tonks there were a few peppered through for the others. When the service had ended he headed straight to the previously unknown werewolf.

"I'm Freya Nelson." She lightly kissed his cheek "Mr Potter and you have Teddy too, Remus has told me so much about you."

"Please call me Harry I'm sorry I can't say the same for you." She laughed

"No I would imagine not our Alpha keeps the pack under a Fidelius cham so that we can be protected as much as possible from those that seek to destroy us." She explained.

"I understand completely."

"I thought you would. After all I was the one was first you came to speak to when many others would like the privilege"

"Probably." He said shrugging. "There was a reason I came over though. I don't know whether you know but I'm Teddy's godfather and will be taking care of him from now on and I was wondering whether I could get in contact in the near future to discuss what, if anything, he'll suffer with the infection."

"I would be happy to, I'd already written my owl adress thinking whoever had him would want it. I should warn you though I might be of little use all my experience is with children with wolves as both parents plus there are his mothers abilities to consider."

"Of course, although to be honest even any advice on normal childhood would be appreciated." she laughed again

"It was wonderful to meet you, Harry."

"You too, Freya". The waved at each other and split up. He started to look around for his friends who had all scattered. Then he saw something that made his heart stutter. Charlie was entirely too close to another guy that Harry didn't recognise so he made his way in that direction.

"Hey Harry this is Joe he was in Hufflepuff with Tonks."

"It's an honour to meet you."

"Thank you so you must have been in Charlie's year then."

"Yeah, we knew each other pretty well. I actually telling him that I'd like to closer again"

"Really? That's great."

"And I was about to reply that that wouldn't be possible as I'm seeing someone and we're pretty serious."

"Wait the great Charlie Weasley is hanging up his boots? Never thought I'd see the day!"

"What's Charlie doing?"asked an attractive olive skinned girl with her arm around a guy he vaguely recognised from the sport pages.

"Got himself a _pretty serious_ boyfriend"

"Wait is that Charlie serious or serious serious?" The unknown man asked.

"There is no such thing as Charlie serious!" Charlie hissed turning a shade red Harry was amused to note that even Ron had never achieved.

"Sure there is..do you not remember our leaving party? or the fact that you got around a _lot_ at school and you weren't any better when we visited you for your 21st ."

"Not all of us are lucky enough to meet their soulmate at 13 besides anything said after drinking an entire bottle of firewhiskey should never be taken seriously."

"Sure, sure whatever you say." She sing-songed and turing to Harry she introduced the both of them. "I'm Elena and this lug is my husband Patrick Mason."

"Keeper for the Falmouth Falcons right?"

"Yeah, I was in Ravenclaw when I was here. Wanted this one to join me playing pro but he had go run off to hang out with large scaly reptiles."

"We're still waiting. You can't out sneak a Slytherin,Weasley. "

"Serious, like thinking of moving in together, serious."

"Oh who is he? Is he here? When can we meet him?"

"I can't tell you who he is. It's complicated he's not out yet but I promise to bring him round the moment he's ready."

"Please tell me he isn't married."

"He's not and you know I broke it off with Gregor as soon as I realised."

"So you're staying a while, then? Bill said you were thinking a couple of months."

"Yeah until the end of summer. I have a lot of holiday built up."

"Good. Don't be a stranger, okay" Elena said and kissed him on the cheek and waved to Joe and Harry before taking Patrick's arm and moving away.

"Same goes for me Charlie. I want to know the man who was able to tame you."

"Of course, Joe."

"Well then it was great to meet you Harry and send me an owl to meet up." After shaking both their hands Joe left them as well.

"So what did you do at your leaving party?" Harry asked slyly.

"Nothing that's important now. Look it seems that mum's calling us over. We should go." Charlie immediately started guiding Harry towards the rest of Weasleys and they headed back to the castle to collect their belongings.

 **A/N 2: I got the idea for this type of funeral from a memorial service I went to a couple of years ago and it saved me trying to write a true eulogy which I couldn't get to work correctly.**


	4. Papa Don't Preach

**Disclaimer: As Always I don't own Harry Potter or his universe that honour goes to JK Rowling**

 **A/N: So the chapter title is a Madonna song (Obvs) although slightly upsettingly I did know of the Kelly Osbourne version first what can I say it was the early '00s it was a different time. On a more serious note I've taken the age of consent to be 16 as it is in the UK just in case it's different where you're reading it.**

Papa don't Preach

It was a week after the Lupins' funeral and Harry was going a little insane. Somehow the Burrow was even fuller than it had been during the previous summer. Although there were the same number of Weasleys, exchanging Bill for Percy, Teddy took a lot more space than he had expected for such a small human then they had also taken in Luna and Neville as neither of their childhood homes had made it through the war. On top of that Bill and Fleur had been there for at least one meal a day and both Angelina Johnson and Michael Corner spending a lot of time there with Fred and Ginny respectively. Mrs Weasley was in heaven having so many people to look after especially after her family had been so scattered under a lot of stress for the past few years. Not that she hadn't taken certain precautions to stop anymore grandchildren being created. . There was a reason that the year below Ginny's was the largest to be sorted in over 20 years, after all. Unfortunately for Harry that had meant that he and Charlie were unable to spend any meaningful time together. Even their old nighttime stand by of sneaking around wasn't possible as not only was Teddy not sleeping through the night but Charlie had Percy and Neville in his old room. He hoped it would get better after they told people about their relationship today. Unfortunately he also hadn't been able to spend a lot of time with Hermione and Ron as they had been off on planning their trip to Australia. Their trip to a travel agent had fascinated the entire family. It turned out that Mr Weasley was not the only member of the family fascinated with muggles he was just the most vocal about it

When he had thought about it during the past year he had thought that he would be more nervous. However after his best friends' positive reactions he was just a bit anxious rather than terrified. "You know we could wait if you aren't ready I don't want to pressure you into doing something you're not ready for." Charlie said into the back of his neck as he encircled his waist from behind moving from where he had been lounging on the bed to where Harry was standing by Teddy's crib.

"No I want them to know. You heard your mum over the past few days she hasn't exactly been subtle at trying to get Bill or Percy to set you up with one of their friends so that you'll stay here rather than go back to Romania"

"Yeah but that's nothing new she does it every time I'm home and I'm perfectly capable of ignoring my mother if that's the only reason."

"No it's not." he said pecking Charlie on the cheek. "I want to be able to hold your hand or snuggle up to you when we're all together and I would _really_ like to stop pretending that I barely know you and the only reason you're spending so much time with Teddy is your friendship with Tonks rather than anything else."

"Okay _micuto,_ I understand completely. I guess she'll just have to continue with the fudge."

"So trying to set you up is really a kind of sexual 'come home fudge'?"

Charlie burst out laughing and continued to do so for a couple of minutes. "I had never considered it like that but I s'pose so but let's never ever say it in front of mum, she'd kill me for corrupting her poor innocent Harry."

"Then she'll be pleased to know there really hasn't been all that much corrupting going on."

Charlie groaned before replying, "tell me about it but it's only for a little while then I'll be free to corrupt you as much as you wish."

"Mmm….I like the sound of that." Harry said turning fully in charlie's arms so that they were nose to nose and kissing him deeply.

xXx

It took awhile for everyone to congregate as they got everyone to come into the living room after supper to share the news. Most people were wearing a look of confusion about what exactly was going on. There couldn't be more dark magic for Harry to explain, could there? and his hospital appointment for his uncontrolled magic wasn't until tomorrow. His best friends were the last to arrive rushing through the door as they had spent the day around Hermione's old home for clues to see where exactly her parents had actually gone.

"Sorry, Sorry we ran into Mrs Norris, from the newsagents, and she wanted to know how I'd been." Hermione explained. They had already known about Harry's plan and had promised to be onside if there were any unexpected negative reactions.

"When Harry's finished with his news there are leftovers for you two in the kitchen."

"Thanks, mum."

"Thank you, Mrs Weasley."

"Don't worry about it guys, , I hadn't started yet. Don't worry there's no magical emergency but I think it's time for me to be honest about something." after saying this he took a deep breath and simply blurted "You see I'm gay"

"Lee owes me ten sickles." George crowed.

"You bet on me?" Harry asked a little taken aback.

"Yeah, it was whilst we were all in the DA and he thought you were just as oblivious as dear little Ronniekins about how to chat up the opposite sex but I thought that it was more you just didn't have any interest in that quarter."

"How could you tell?"

"No reaction to Chang or any of your other fan girls. I mean some of the hottest girls in school were making eyes at you and you showed absolutely no reaction to any of them." Harry caught a glimpse of Charlie's smug smile at learning that intelligence.

"Well dear, it's nice of you to tell us. Don't worry about anyone's reactions. It's much more accepted in the wizarding world than in the muggle. As for us you will always be welcome at our table and if you ever want to bring anyone along then we'd be delighted to meet them." Mrs Weasley then turned towards the twins with a dark glare "If I hear about either of you betting on any of the rest of family you'll be sat with Aunt Muriel between the two of you for the next decade do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal" they chorused.

"Actually Mrs Weasley I'm already dating someone."

"Ooohh that's lovely, well invite him over for sunday lunch then there's no need to be shy about it especially if you're serious about him. We just want you happy."

"And to make sure he'll treat you right. We need to assert our rights as your big brothers. Corner can give you a run down." The twins said with identical evil grins. It was then that the two youngest lost their battle with controlling their laughter whilst Hermione was still struggling valiantly.

"What's the joke?" They asked looking over to where the three were seated.

"Do you really want to try that with the person that taught you all you know?" Charlie asked coming up behind them and clapping them on the shoulder.

"It's Charlie?" Mr Weasley asked and Harry blushed and nodded.

"How? I mean he lives in the middle of an unplottable reserve on the other side of the continent to you." Percy asked and then looked down as if he wasn't sure he should have said anything.

"We started writing after he came over for the first task and then we built our friendship just sort of developed from there. But nothing of a romantic nature happened for another a couple of years so we were never together whilst I was under age."

"You're who Charlie was moping about?" Bill asked with dawning realisation.

"I did not mope!"

"Then why, little brother, did I have Bors in my floo wondering whether I knew any reason why you had changed personality to become a total workaholic with no sense of humour?"

"My boss called you?"

"Yeah apparently after they'd already had a failed intervention that had just made you more pissed off than before. "

"It wasn't an intervention, _William_ "

"That's not what he said, _Charles._ I think his exact words were that your horntail had a better temperament than you did at the moment and if it weren't for the war he'd send you back until you got your head out of your arse."

"Yeah he might have said that to me too," Charlie mumbled.

"Not that we aren't happy that the two of you have found each other but what are you going to do when Charlie goes back to Romania?" Mr Weasley said interrupting the brewing argument between his two oldest children.

"Don't be silly, dear. Now he has Harry he'll be staying here won't you, love?"

"Actually Mrs Weasley…" Harry began awkwardly, fidgeting with his hands.

"Please Call us Molly and Arthur, dear, you're no longer a child and you're part of the family.."

"Thank you. You see it won't so much be Charlie staying here…. more like I'll be going with him. I'm not going back to Hogwarts it's too soon and I can do my NEWTs independently so it's not like I can't get the qualifications I need. Plus this way I'll be able to stay home and look after Teddy at the same time and then when he's a bit older there's a creche and a school. He'll able to have friends and not have to worry about his being a metamorphagous all the time like he'd have to if we lived close to any muggles. As for security you know that the wards are as good as , if not better than, those at Hogwarts so I'll be perfectly safe from anyone wanting revenge especially as they would hardly expect me to be there when everyone believes I'll be heading back to Scotland." Harry had run out of breath so had to stop babbling. There was a long moment of silence before Mrs Weasley, therefore the whole family, gave her verdict.

"Okay then, if that's what'll make you happy but I want lots of pictures and a visit every three months at least. Oh and weekly owls there have been far too many times that you've slipped to more like once a fortnight, Charlie. What about your cabin? Do you have furniture for Teddy?"

"You're really okay with it, Mum?" After Molly nodded he answered her questions. "As for my cottage I've already written to Bors about it and he's going to add an extra bedroom onto it and then we can use Florian and Nina's crib and stuff until we get a chance to buy stuff over there as it'd be too bulky to take by the portkey along with all our other stuff."

"Wait we get lectured about moving to Diagon Alley and Charlie's taking Harry off to a different country surrounded by Dragons and you're okay with it?"

"Yes because his explosion number is zero, whereas the less said about yours the better. Plus Charlie's lived away from home since he graduated so I think he knows household charms already."

"Well I hope this makes things easier for the two of you," Percy said "I've decided to return to my london flat with the amount of hours I'm working currently it's much more convenient. With me gone then you can swap over Neville for Harry and Teddy and then it would allow them to share care easier. Before you say anything I promise to still come back every weekend for the family meal"

"Well now that's sorted I'm starved are you coming Hermione?"

"Sure, Ron" and with that the group broke up to enjoy their evenings but not before Harry got a particularly tight hug from Mrs Weasley as she left the room.

"Well that went as well as could be hoped."

"Yeah it really did."


	5. Smokers outside Hospital Doors

**A/N: Sorry about the delay but I realised that this chapter contradicted something that's written/planned for later in the story so it needed a lot of revision and I'm still not a 100% happy with it but it gets us from A to B effectively.**

 **Also the title is taken from an Editors song which is one of my all time favourites but has very little to do with hospitals except for the fact that they both have hospitals in them.**

Smoker's Outside The Hospital Doors

Charlie was making his way downstairs to get a drink of water when he heard his parent's voices through the partially open kitchen door."I know Arthur…it's just they've both been away and we've had no contact at all with them for the past year and now they're all heading off again. What if Harry loves it as much as Charlie does then they'll never come back or what if Ron decides to stay out with Hermione in Australia rather than bringing her parents home? I just worry about them we're finally free of you-know-who and they're all disappearing again."

"I know Mollywobbles but that's what you have to do as a parent. There's a muggle quote someone once told me 'To have a child is to accept that your heart will forever walk outside your body.' I know how worried you've been but it's different now. Besides as much as it pains me somewhere unplottable is probably the best place for Harry right now. There are still free death-eaters who wish to harm him.

"I know, I know, you're right it's why I gave them my blessing last night."

"Just because they're going back to Romania now doesn't mean they'll stay there forever or that they won't be visiting more regularly." His father reasoned. Charlie realised that he really needed to either head back upstairs or make his presence known to his parents.

"Hi mum and dad I couldn't help but overhear what you were talking about." He said opening the door.

"Oh Charlie you gave me a fright!"

"Sorry I couldn't sleep so I came down for a glass of water."

"So you heard our worries then, son?" his dad asked

"Yeah and I wanted to thank you for accepting it in front of Harry you two are the most consistent parental figures he's had and the first adults to truly care for him as anything other than his scar other than some of his teachers. It meant the world to him when you said he was a good as a son to you."

"I just wish we could have got him away from those awful muggles but nothing compares to blood wards for safety. If I ever meet any of them I shall give them a piece of my mind."

"Trust me mum I'll be right next to you. I just worry about you both so far away from home."

"I know and there was a reserve here I'd work here in a heartbeat but the dragons are in Romania but I promise we'll both visit more often than I have in the past. Just think if the two of you hadn't done such an excellent job then I wouldn't be as respected in what I do and I'd probably be a washed up seeker with an over-inflated ego."

"You're right but that doesn't stop a mother from worrying. We should get to bed Arthur dear if you're due in the office early."

"Yes dear"

xXx

Charlie was more worried than he would admit to as he looked over at his boyfriend. Harry was nervous enough about today without him adding to it he told himself. Despite his magic ban he had still managed some rather impressive feats of accidental magic ever since he had come out of his post-battle state. Most surprisingly he had managed to apparate into Charlie's bed last night, breaking through all of his mother's extensive wards to stop that sort of thing, whilst still asleep. Unfortunately for them both he had been speaking to his parents at the time and therefore had a large shock when he finally returned with a glace of water. Then there was the incident with Teddy stuffed pig being levitated all the way from Ron's room to the kitchen when he had needed comforting. The twins were still making flying pig jokes. None of it should have happened Harry was an adult. You lost the ability to do accidental magic when you reached magical maturity at 17.

Aside from the genuine worry about Harry's magic there was the issue that this was the first time that he had been out in public without the heavy guard of friends and surrogate family that had surrounded him at the cemetery. There were still uncaught death eaters around and of course their adoring public. His sympathy for Harry had only increased as he dealt with the whispers and the stares when he said goodbye to a number of people he had recruited to the Order at the Portkey Office and then at the Three Broomsticks with Bill yesterday. It would only be more intense with the real live chosen one in attendance so they had decided to travel as muggles so they could remain anonymous for as long as possible. They had slept most of the way to London before navigating the tube to the hospital. Before they actually went inside Charlie pulled Harry into an alleyway and spelled some basic glamours onto him to get through the lobby and up to their appointment with his new healer.

xXx

Even without Harry being identifiable there was still a large crowd of well-wishers for Charlie that they had to get through before heading up to the 4th floor and the spell damage wing where Senior Healer V. Thompson's office was. When they reached it they knocked on the door a kindly looking middle aged woman welcomed them in. "Hello it is an honour to meet you both. Please call me Vera. Poppy has already written to me and sent her rather copious notes to me. You do like to get yourself into more than usual teenager scrapes don't you, Mr Potter? You could have knocked me down with a feather when I read you'd been bitten by a Basilisk of all things and two donations of Phoenix tears is almost unheard of.I suppose that was one of advantage of having a headmaster bonded to one. Now before I begin we should lift the glamours you're under as they could affect the results."

"I guess and call me Harry please." Harry replied uncertainly

"Of course. However none of that is the reason for your appointment so let's get to that shall we? Poppy wrote that you had undergone a total magical breakdown after your battle with You-know-who and are now having difficulties with control."

"How confidential are these sessions?"

"Completely, are you familiar with the muggle Hippocratic oath?"

"Yeah it's the thing that doctors swear to isn't it?" Harry replied

"Exactly, we healers follow something similar however it is enforced by magic rather than honour. To break confidentiality or any of the other standards would sacrifice my own magic as default to make sure that I could never practice healing again. Whatever your secrets are, Harry, they are safe with me" . Having been reassured Harry told her all about Horcruxes and that his scar had been one causing a portion of his magic to act as a barrier between his soul and the sliver of Voldemort's. Vera scribbled notes throughout his explanation and sat in contemplation for a few moments before she made a comment. "Thank you I understand now why she was so cagey in her letter over what had actually happened to you. Now we need to go through some tests before I can give my verdict on what's going on and how we'll proceed with treatment options.I am sorry but I must ask that you remain in my office Charlie. Having another someone else in the room can throw of the tests."

"Of course. I brought a book just in case."

xXx

For the first half an hour he was able to lose himself in 'Dragons and their Breeding Habits' however as the time increased he got more and more antsy. After 2 hours of no sign of either Harry or his healer he stood up to investigate only to see them coming towards him.

"Sorry I was not expecting it take so long otherwise I would given you an retrieving bubble and sent you off to the cafe rather than keep you here. Harry I expect you would like your boyfriend to remain as I go over your test results." Harry immediately nodded.

"It would seem that your magic has experienced pugatio cacoethis, a particularly strong and rare form of the Phoenix effect, I have only seen it a few times. The Phoenix effect normally presents when someone is removed from under the long-term casting of particularly dark curses, such as the Imperius, or excessive exposure to a dark object. Depending on the age on the patient, the strength of their core and their general health a percentage of their core regenerates whilst the remaining remains in a weakened state. They lose some of their control as the two assimilate. The difference in a case such as yours is that as all your magic has been recylced so that it behaves as if you haven't had any magical education. Unfortunately there is no quick fix for this but rather it is case of working with your magic and allowing it to relearn the basics."

"So how long will that take?"

"I would guess from my previous patients that it'll be between 12 and 24 months but that's only a guess. I'd suggest to keep as relaxed as possible to keep your accidental magic to a minimum and get in touch with either a private tutor or teachers at Hogwarts about helping you to regain control. Don't worry once you've worked on the control you'll be able to perform the more complex magic you've learnt without a problem."

"Will there be an issue with me moving to a different country?"

"Where are you planning on going?"

"The Dragon Reserve in Romania, Charlie's a dragon handler."

"Hmm, when are you planning on leaving?"

"Not for a couple of months…most likely at the end of the summer."

"Well then I'd like to have another appointment before you leave and at that time I'll send the reserve's healing team an up-to-date assesment of your condition. Healer Hamilton is a great healer so will do if there's an emergency and you can't get back."

"How'd you know Riley?" Charlie asked with some surprise.

"She did some of training here. There's an exchange programme between us and the Aussies."

"I never knew that I just assumed her time in London was before she started her medical training."

"Do either of you have any more questions?"

"What should I do about NEWTs. I mean I'm not going back to Hogwarts but I was going to do them privately."

"I'd suggest waiting until January at the earliest for your practical work but there's no reason that you can't start with the theory immediately."

"Just one more thing you may experience some issues using your current wand so if that's the case I'd suggest heading to a wandmaker for a replacement as sometimes the clash of the new and the old can exacerbate the situation."

They thanked her and said their goodbyes and headed into the loos where Charlie cast another quick glamour on them both and then they headed out into the surprise portion of the day. Taking Harry on their first date and getting him some decent clothes.


	6. Waterloo Sunset

**A/N: Sorry for the delay went on holiday and it turned out that the cottage I stayed in didn't have internet which was a little frustrating but at least I managed to get a couple of new chapters done and the school holidays are done so I should have more time to write with fewer children to look after.**

 **As always I own nothing in the Harry Potter universe nor indeed the Kinks song that this title comes from.**

Waterloo Sunset

They held hands as they exited the Leaky Cauldron. Harry felt a little like a five year old heading of to Disneyland, he was on a date with his boyfriend and nobody knew that 'the great Harry Potter' was walking amongst them. He still wasn't sure what Charlie had planned he had thought they were coming up simply for his hospital appointment and then heading back. However it seemed that other plans were afoot as they reached the Leaky Cauldron and headed into Diagon Alley rather than heading back to Paddington Station. As Charlie tapped the correct brick it suddenly occurred to him to wonder whether the rest of the family knew what was planned so he asked,"Won't your mum worry if we're not back?"

"No she already knows what I have planned. It's only a surprise to you micuto. She knows we won't be home until late."

"What are we going to do then?"

"Well to start off we'll be getting us both a new wardrobe. Nothing I have left in England fits right and there's only so long that resizing charms work and you never have to see the Dursley's again so you don't have to worry about them finding out about the gold. You deserve to have new things Harry."

"Charlie I don't have any gold and I doubt that the goblins are going to be happy to see me you know after the whole releasing their Dragon and demolishing half the bank thing."

"One step ahead of you there." Charlie said chuckling, "Bill went back to work a couple of days ago and got some gold for the both of us."

"He did?"

"Yeah you left your key at the Burrow after his wedding and mum's been looking after it for you. He offered to do it apparently everything in chaos with all the muggleborns that have been hiding for the past year and then there all the vaults that are changing hands as people find out what happened to their relatives said it probably take all day just to get money never mind anything else. Oh and he said once it calmed down a little he'd get you, Ron and Hermione a meeting Ragnok the Goblin chief so you can explain and apologise."

"Do you think I should offer to help with funding the repairs?"

"Dun' know but from what Bill has told me about their culture I would say no as it would likely offend their honour but I could be completely wrong. Now do you want to go to Paquet's or Madame Malkin's first?"

"What's Paquet?"

"It's an outfitter's, specialises in ethical dragonhide and other protected species products." He knew from talking to Charlie that that meant that that meant that only accepted stuff that could be certified to come from an animal that had died of natural causes rather than having been poached.

"Okay cool, let's do that first and then robes"

xXx

A couple of hours later Harry was the proud owner of not only a pair of boots but a gorgeous leather jacket that was either dark purple or black depending on the light, two travelling cloaks and a pair of dress robes. He'd refused to get any other robes as he found muggle clothing to be much more comfortable. Charlie had got a couple of pairs of leather trousers as well as some robes as he'd confessed that he might have to go into the ministry if it saved his boss from leaving the reserve as he was in the country anyway. They were now heading into muggle London with their previous purchases shrunk to fit in their pockets. Charlie had dug out the map one of his friends had sent with a list of good places in the area. He was currently guiding them both towards the marked department store and once they'd got there headed straight for the personal shopper department.

"Hello I'm Amy and how I can help you today?" The middle-aged woman sat at the desk said.

"Hi, please call me Harry. I need an entirely new set of clothes, as you can see what I currently have isn't in the best of repair." Harry explained to the shop assistant.

"Of course no problem. I went through a similar thing a few years ago when I lost a few good stone like yourself. Nothing fit anymore and I had no idea what sort of thing suited my new body shape. It was a total nightmare." Harry realised that she obviously thought that the clothes were originally his own he thought about correcting her but let it slide. It was a convenient excuse as to why he had nothing at all the only other explanation would have involved an unfortunate fire. She continued on oblivious to his thoughts "Now those won't give me any sort of accurate measurement so unless you know your measurements I'll have to get a tape measure around you for your trousers and a suit. A young man like you needs something nice for wooing that nice young man of between you and me he looks pretty smitten already."

"H...How did you know?"

"My Nigel used to look at me like that when we were courting used to make all my friends jealous. There's no way of hiding that kind of love. Oh I don't mean like that our son Johnny just the same as you both, he's got a lovely man of his own. They head off with Nigel every saturday for a pie and a pint at the pub after the footy just like they always did. They were best friends for years before anything happened you see. Much nicer than our Kathy's man who has yet to turn up to a sunday roast on time. Look at me wittering on, if you'd head into the cubicle and get down to your boxers then I'll take your measurements and get looking for you. "

"Sure thing."

10 minutes later she'd done just that she, and another assistant, had both come back multiple times with a variety of different things for him. everything from underwear to a couple of different of coats. "Well that's a good first batch." Causing both men to pale and Amy to giggle. "Don't worry there won't be such a large pile and stuff like the plain tees you can try on one and then choose your favourite colours.

xXx

Sitting down, in front of two steaming plates of pasta having said goodbye to Amy and each carrying numerous bags later Harry was both starving and tired but he thought it had been worth it to see the way that Charlie was ogling him. He had changed out of his old clothes whilst still there so he was currently in the soft grey t-shirt, skinny jeans and green bomber jacket.

"I never realised shopping was so tiring."

"Yeah you were certainly put through your paces. It's not so bad if you're only looking for a couple of things."

"And you don't have a hyper blonde in charge. She was lovely but my good she made Hermione look laid back."

"Oh my poor baby. Well at least it's all done now. Rob suggested going to a local cinema that shows the classics that's about 5 minutes away. Apparently they're in the middle of a Hitchcock season at the moment."

"Yeah that sounds good, what are we going to go see?"

"He says it's Vertigo."

"Cool I've never seen it but I've heard about it, Cary Grant stars in it, doesn't he?"

"Yeah it's one of my favourites. It's better the less you know about it before though."

"Well I'll just have to look forward to it then."

"Good, how's your bolognese?"

"Great, what about your arrabiata?"

"Awesome"

Harry thought that now was the moment to ask about something that had been bugging him since he'd met Charlie's school friends after the Lupins' funeral, "So to change the subject I'm guessing I'm your only boyfriend that you've picked out underwear for on a first date."

"Sure but at least you know I'll like it, you can go surprisingly wrong with it. I mean you're with some hot guy and then he's tighty whities it can really kill the mood."

"Actually I wouldn't, would I? I mean I've only ever been with 've never actually had this conversation. I mean it's not the sort of thing that you put in a letter is it?"

"The magic number conversation?"

"What?" Harry asked choking a little on his drink.

"It's muggle slang it just means the number of people you've slept with."

"So mine would be zero" He said a little glumly.

"Yeah and there's nothing wrong with it" Charlie said as he squeezed Harry's hand. "Much better to regret those you didn't sleep with than those you did."

"So what's yours? I mean obviously it's not no-one. I mean your friends made it sound like it was quite a large number." He blurted and blushed.

"So you waited until we were alone to corner me?" His tone was mostly teasing but there was a hint of anger. "Urgh I'm sorry it's just not something I'm particularly proud of at the best of times and you've got to take into account that I'm eight years older than you."

"Charlie you trying to get out of telling me isn't calling me of any of my nerves."

"Fine. For mutual nudity it's 35 but for full on sex it's 28."

"Okay and we're counting mutual nudity as what?"

"The type of stuff we've done but, with fewer clothes and usually a much larger amount of alcohol on my part. You've got one big advantage over those men though I wasn't in love with any of them, not even close. Let's just say I haven't thought about anyone else's child's schooling. Plus there hasn't been anything of that nature since the night before Bill's wedding and for a while before that it was only you."

"Since when?"

"Since the end of your fifth year and we kissed for the first time."

"Really?" he asked in shock

"Really" He said with total conviction. "It just didn't appeal anymore going out and finding a random man to spend the night with or even a few nights in a row when I had you to write to and worry about."

"That, Mr Weasley, was an excellent save."

"Thank you kind sir." Charlie said with a grin and brought him in for a quick peck.

xXx

They made their way through Paddington station much like they had in the morning leaning on each other and sleepy the difference now was they were laden down with bags not that you could see as Charlie had done as much discreet shrinking as possible so they were stored in Harry's new backpack and messenger bag not that did anything for the weight, unfortunately. Sitting down on the train he thought of a similar train journey all those years ago when it had all felt like such a dream after a pang for Hedwig he thought today had been even better than one of the best days of his life, the day he'd found he was a wizard. It was only made better by the fact that rather than returning to the Dursley's alone he was snuggled up to his boyfriend and was heading back to the place that held the rest of his family. Not caring about what the other passengers thought he hooked his hand around Charlie's neck and brought his lips down on his for a very unchaste kiss.

"Not that I'm complaining but what was that for?" Charlie asked when they finally broke the kiss.

"Just today's been pretty much perfect after the hospital this morning and I wanted to thank you for thinking of it. It was a great, if belated, first date."

"Even finding out that I'm rather less than a blushing virgin."

"Yeah, I'm not saying that I ever want to imagine you with other guys but at least one of us is going to know what they're doing once we take that step."

Charlie chortled before replying "Glad to see you can look on the bright side."They shared a brief kiss before falling asleep on each other only waking up when their station was called at the other end of their journey.


	7. Demons

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter Universe**

 **A/N: Here is the first smut of the story so if you're under age or want to skip it then stop reading after the first set of x's. On a similar note I'd be interested to see whether you agree I've got the M rating right (rather than it being too explicit) as the more I thought about it and read the guidelines the more confused I became. This may be because I edited this in the middle of night when I couldn't sleep with a cold rather than FFN being unclear.**

 **Also the song the title is based on is the Imagine Dragons song of the same name**

Demons

Charlie woke up later than his usual wont the morning after their London date. He amused himself for a minute that this would be the last time he'd be waking up alone for the foreseeable future. Today Percy was leaving, Neville was moving to Ron's room and his boyfriend and baby were joining him. The blots on his horizon were his mother's unhappiness over the Romania situation and his continuing case of blue balls not that he blamed Harry for the situation . Although Harry's stalling vindicated his suspicion that he had wanted to do it after Bill's wedding because he was worried that they would never see each other again. In fact he had pretty much admitted it during their talk in the Hogwarts kitchen but it didn't make it any easier to remember Harry whispering in his ear that he wanted him inside him. As he thought about what it would be like to finally sleep with Harry he could feel his blood rushing southwards. His growing arousal was rather rudely interrupted by George banging on the door to say that breakfast was ready. He pulled on a t-shirt and shorts and made his way downstairs where the entire, non-working, family was already sitting around the table. Taking the place next to Harry, who was feeding Teddy, he helped himself to a large portion of eggs, bacon and toast. He took great pleasure on being free to kiss both of their heads in front of anyone.

"Worked up an appetite did you?" Fred asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, never realised how tiring shopping is." Harry answered as Charlie had his mouth full.

"Shopping...hmm? Is that we're calling it nowadays?" George with fake innocence.

Charlie swallowed before replying, "No he really does mean shopping. We went round muggle London so that we could get some clothes that actually fit. Should have seen the face of the personal shopper when we said that Harry needed an entirely new wardrobe."

"What's wrong with your clothes dear?" His mother asked him, everyone understood why Harry needed new clothes.

"Nothing mum I'm just not the same shape as I was when I graduated so everything's a little tight."

"Now he's all big and strong." Charlie merely rolled his eyes at the twins this time as they mock swooned at him causing Ron to choke from laughing and Hermione had to hit him on the back.

"Did you do anything else? You were back too late even using the train to travel to have just shopped." Ginny asked

"He took me to dinner and then to see Vertigo at a local cinema."

"Oh, Alfred Hitchcock's great, my dad's a big fan."

"What did the healer say about your magic, mate? are you allowed to use it again?" Ron asked obviously hoping so so that the three of them could work on their NEWTs together.

"The healer said it's something called _pugatio cacoethis,_ it's a type of the phoenix effect. Only it completely regenerates someone's magic instead of just removing as much of the tainted magic as possible. I have to monthly visits with healer Thompson and then every three months with more regular check-ups with reserve's handler."

"Well that works well as a visiting schedule too. You'll have a chance to space out the portkeys a little more." Mrs Weasley was the first to respond and he could see that his mother was still coming to terms with their move.

"How long until you're in the clear?" Fred asked seriously

"She's not entirely sure as she hasn't seen anyone with exactly the same injury but she said it would probably be about a year before everything settle down but it's gradual process so once I start working on it I'll get more and more of it back. She said I've got to have lessons to relearn all the practical side of things as it's forgotten how to do it. It's a good thing that I wasn't planning on returning to Hogwarts as there's no way I'd be able to take my NEWTs in the summer ."

 **xXx**

After a tiring day Charlie awoke to Harry shaking and muttering unintelligibly in his sleep. They had spent the day moving Harry and Teddy's stuff into Charlie's room and then dealt with an unusually fussy Teddy during his nighttime routine so they had both fallen asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. He quickly cast a night light charm before trying to wake Harry up. " _Micuto,_ wake up, you're having a bad dream." He whispered repeatedly as he shook Harry's shoulder lightly careful to not make too much noise and wake Teddy unnecessarily. Eventually Harry gasped as if he had just emerged from underwater. "Shh, it's okay it was just a dream, _micuto,_ nothing is here to hurt you," he said whilst rubbing calming circles on Harry's back. However this didn't last long as Harry curled himself into Charlie and held him with a death grip.

"Lee, oh god, Lee! It was so horrible I imagined we were my parents and Voldemort was coming up the garden path to kill Teddy. It was just like after Nagini bit me."

"His snake bit you?" He asked wondering how he hadn't found this out before.

"Yeah when we went to Godric's Hollow to see if Bathsilda Bagshot knew anything only it was trap and she'd been dead for at least a while and the snake was controlling her by some kind of dark magic. That was when Hermione accidentally broke my wand but if she hadn't got me out of there I would have been dead for sure. She really doesn't get enough credit for keeping all of us alive through everything."

"None of that explains what happened in your nightmare. Mum always says it's best to talk about it. I heard so many of Ron's growing up that I swear I got a fear of spider by proxy."

"It was the snake's venom in some way or maybe Voldemort just took advantage of my mind in its weakened state because I'd gotten away again. Either way in the delirium I saw his memory of killing my parents. I've been dreaming about it ever since. After the battle it became you, me and Teddy in those roles rather than my parents and I. Sometimes I'm my dad and I scream myself hoarse for you to run even though I know it's too late. Or you've already been murdered and I'm standing in front of the crib just like she did."

"How on earth did Ron or anyone else for that matter not know? And more to the point why didn't you tell me? We're together now this is the sort of thing that you don't have to deal with alone."

"Well Ron's simple he's been casting a silencing spell around his bed for his snoring as I can't like I usually and Hermione put one around the whole room so that only I would get woken up by Teddy needing to feed. As for not telling you I didn't think it was that big of a deal and I didn't want to worry you. There's nothing you could have done anyway."

"What did you say to me when we talked about you moving to Romania? You utterly silly beautiful man, _I love you_ , that's not going to go away because you have nightmares or…or…because something you've experienced might bother me. I _want_ to be bothered by you that's how functioning relationships work. If you don't share things I'll just worry about you not telling me things rather than what's telling me which is worse as I have my whole imagination to play with. Promise me you won't keep something like this from me again."

"Yes lee, I promise." He leant into Charlie and they shared a sweet kiss. They continued exchanging light kisses until they began to become deeper and longer. Eventually Charlie rolled Harry on top of him and took his t-shirt off.

"Lee, Teddy's in here. We shouldn't. " Harry gasped as Charlie began to kiss his neck and collarbone.

"We'll just have to be quiet _micuto._ He's asleep and as long as we're quiet he'll stay so, right?"

"Yeah but that isn't the issue. What if we corrupt him?"

"We won't even if he were awake he's too young to remember and he's in his own crib. It's not like he's in bed with us." He topped off his point with nuzzling his boyfriend's neck and giving him a little nip on the shoulder

"People do that? Let their babies sleep in their bed I mean not the kissing"

"Why do you think there's a bigger gap between me and Percy and all the others. Apparently I was a very finicky baby who didn't like my cot."

"Okay don't really want to talk about your parents having sex whilst you have hands feeling up my arse."

"But any other time would be okay?" Charlie asked teasingly and took Harry by surprise by flipping their bodies so that now he was on top of his boyfriend. Rather than laying on top of him he knelt and removed his own shirt. Displaying his tattoos for the first time however his boyfriend was paying them little attention, as they were on his side, instead he was staring at his chest in a rather hungry manner.

"You're so gorgeous Lee. Wanna touch you."

"Go ahead" having thrown his shirt on the floor he once again laid down on harry but remained careful to keep his weight on his elbows so as not to squash him. He had a time biting back a large moan as Harry trailed his hands all over his exposed skin. After a few minutes of it he lent down and began kissing and exploring Harry again. He was a little shocked to feel Harry's hands lowering his boxers. Usually it was him that took the lead as the more experienced one. It made him even more turned on and quickly helped the enterprise along with an inelegant wiggle to get them past his knees and off completely. As soon as he achieved that went back to back to rutting against Harry, feeling his boyfriend's pyjama bottoms, complete with wet patch, scrunched up between them.

"Wanna see you" he managed to whisper coherently into Harry's ear as he continued his rutting.

"Me too. Wanna see you naked."

"You sure?" He had to ask it wasn't something they'd ever managed in their previous time together. There had always been the threat of discovery that had meant that they got their hands underneath or around clothes rather than taking them off entirely. Harry's pyjamas came off even faster than his own had a few minutes ago. Charlie sat up and surveyed his completely naked lover for the first time. He looked fucking unbelievable spread beneath him, his hair was in an even greater mess than usual and his lips puffed and reddened making him look utterly debauched. A picture completed when Charlie took in his copiously weeping cock. He actually whined after a couple of moments as Charlie sat looking at him. He knew he would never forget the noise Harry made when he unexpectedly started sucking him down. It was somewhere between a groan, a scream and a gasp. Rather than touching himself he held Harry's hips so that could control the pace and how much he took. Harry didn't taste much better or worse than most of the guys he'd gone down on over the years but the noises he was making and the way they had yet to break eye contact ratcheted everything up a couple of notches. Then there were the hands in his hair, twisting and pulling just the way he liked.

"Lee, Lee, please, I'm gonna…." Rather lift off as Harry was trying to get him to do he sank down lower until his face was almost nuzzling Harry's thatch of black hair. He swallowed as much as possible but some still dribbled out. Eventually Harry's orgasm stopped and he lifted himself off the softening cock and then made a production of wiping off what had leaked and licking it off his own hand. As he was doing this he felt a hand around his own arousal and Harry started to give him a lazy stroke. Obviously too spent to do anything more vigorous so Charlie wrapped his own hand around Harry's and they quickly wanked him to completion as covered Harry's stomach and thighs in cum. He collapsed on Harry's in exhaustion and they had both fallen asleep within minutes.


	8. Higher Education

****Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the HP universe.**

 **A/N: The title is an awesome song by Will Dailey. Apart from that I'll just say that I'm so tired that I can barely see straight so I apologise for any and all spelling/grammar errors.**

Higher Education

Harry woke up completely naked, he and Charlie were tangled up together so that one of his legs was between Charlie's and he was using his boyfriend's chest as pillow. He knew he should either shower or at least wash up before he fed Teddy but he just pulled on his discarded jeans from the night before and padded over to his crib, the _scourgify_ Charlie had cast as they fell asleep had got rid of the mess but his skin still felt a little tacky and itchy. Teddy was still asleep but he knew that wouldn't last for long, as it was a little over 3 hours since his last feed. He lifted him out of the crib and headed downstairs where Molly had spelled some formula into bottles that kept it fresh and at the right temperature. He woke up as Harry sleepily stumbled his way down the stairs however he remained peaceful throughout taking his bottle and the subsequent burping.

As he slipped back into their bed after returning Teddy to his crib and taking a moment to appreciate the picture his boyfriend made. Looking down at him Harry still couldn't quite believe that he had been the one that Charlie had fallen in love with. He was never just allowed to be normal instead he had all these oddities and unexpected difficulties. Not only did he have an infant godson to raise, he was adult wizard who was currently as much use as he had been before entering Hogwarts and that was before considering his fame. Their relationship would garner a lot of attention and not all of it was likely to be positive. Although the wizarding world was a lot more open to homosexuality than the muggle one their difference in age could raise eyebrows particularly the fact that they had known each other since he had recently turned 14. As he thought he began to absent-mindedly trace Charlie's tattoos as he had never truly had the opportunity before as they had always had to fear discovery. They were all in a row along on the side of his ribcage currently facing Harry. There was a Hebredian Black dragon at the top, he recognised the breed from Charlie's letters and his own research. Harry guessed that it was to commemorate some unknown injury, in one of his earliest letters Charlie had shared the story of Peter who had got a tattoo of Harry's Horntail after being spiked in the back and it had become a bit of a tradition at the reserve. The other two Harry had no idea as to why Charlie thought they were important enough to permanently spell into his skin. Directly below the dragon was a navigational star with _'Courage, Dear Heart'_ written around the edge of it. Then at the bottom was some sort of symbol, resembling a jug that he didn't recognise. Before he could start to puzzle it out Charlie stirred and sleepily asked "Hey you, give Teddy his feed?"

"Yup just put him back down."

"Lie down then, breakfast won't be for a couple of hours. You've already had a disrupted night." Charlie reached out to tug him back down so they were tangled back together again.

"Will you tell me the stories of your tattoos? I've never really taken them in before."

"Alright, which one do you want to know about first?" Charlie asked sounding a little more awake than he had before.

"I'm guessing the dragon's from an injury, right?" He asked whilst stroking the drawing.

"Yeah that's Iona, she was the first breeding mother I worked with."

"How did it happen?"

"One of the other tamers didn't cast their stunning spell correctly so she woke up whilst I Bors was teaching me how to check her for Scale Rot. Her flames caught me on my side and then I broke a couple of ribs and an ankle falling off my broom. That's why mum and dad visited me the first Christmas I was out there, your first year, rather than the other way around as had been planned. Think the others apart from Bill still don't know the truth. Mum told them the portkey office would only issue one from the UK but not one in."

"Ron doesn't or at least he didn't tell me at the time or mention it in the past seven years. What did they do with Ginny? She wasn't at Hogwarts then."

"Aunt Muriel, I think, Gin's about the only person in the world she actually likes. It wouldn't surprise if she hadn't told them if she could get away with it. She just wants to shelter all of us as much as possible even now we're all adults."

"What about the other two, I recognise the star but not quote." Harry asked to get Charlie's mind of his mother.

"The star was actually first, I got it when I graduated Hogwarts with my old dorm mates we all chose a different quote to incorporate with the star."

"Where's the quote from, I don't recognise it."

"Really? I would have thought you'd heard of it as it's from a muggle book _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_. It's part of the Narnia series by C.S Lewis, Greg brought them and we all read them in the first year and I came back to them a number of times. Used to have massive arguments about whether he was squib or muggle but back then he wouldn't be included in any wizarding records if he was a squib were given up at birth."

"You can tell that sort of thing at birth?"

"Yeah it's usually not as obvious as Teddy's hair but spells can usually tell. Of course it's not 100% and there's always the possibility that the magic won't mature correctly or be too weak to train." Charlie explained.

Harry digested that information before asking "What about the last one? It isn't actually a jug is it?"

Charlie chuckled before replying "It's an Ieb, the ancient Egyptian symbol for a heart, Got it with Bill. It was a bit of an impulsive thing to be honest. When I went to visit him a couple of Christmas's ago we both rather a lot to drink and were feeling more than a little maudlin so we decided to get matching tattoos. He suggested the Ieb, representing the heart, as the Egyptians believed that it held the mind and the soul of a person and was the only organ never removed during mummification. Before he got married to Fleur he added a flower to his, told me it was the best sex he'd ever had when she first saw it."

" _Really_ didn't need to know that, Lee. Know this though if do the same you won't get the same result."

"Duly noted no putting a lightning bolt, snitch or any other symbol I can think of to represent you." Charlie replied and snuggled into Harry's side and promptly fell back asleep.

 **~o0o~**

A few hours later and he still couldn't quite believe that Mrs Weasley had got his tutoring set up so quickly. He had only mentioned it yesterday morning and she had already got a selection of Hogwarts staff to come and teach him. So it was that rest of the family was frog marched out of the house. She and the twins were apparating to the local muggle hospital for Fred's first physiotherapy appointment whilst everyone else was banished to the paddock, or in Teddy's case Shell Cottage, for the morning. So that he and Prof Flitwick would have the house to themselves. It was odd to see his teacher away from Hogwarts but they greeted each other warmly as Harry showed him the way into the sitting room.

"Now Minerva told me that you've been struggling with your magic since the battle."

"Yeah, my healer said that it had undergone _pugatio cacoethis_."

"Okay, excellent. We'll be focusing on your core wand subjects as they're most affected by your issue as they require a larger amount of power to work. Once you're a little more settled I'd suggest going back and starting to brew the most basic potions you know. For the moment I'll be covering charms and some of DADA whilst Prof Vector will be taking the rest of DADA and any transfiguration lessons that Prof McGonagall can't get to. "

"Okay that sounds good"

"Now we shall begin like we did so many years ago with the Levitation Charm. Harry couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. The spell had been a favourite ever since Ron had knocked a troll out with it.

 **~o0o~**

He wasn't smiling two hours later when both he, Flitwick and the Burrow were all looking a little worse for wear. They had moved into the garden after Harry had accidentally set the furniture alight. For the first time he truly appreciated just what a big job he had to do. He was exponentially more powerful than he had been at 11 but with much less control. When his magic worked he could levitate the feather so high that it looked to be floating away in the wind, more than one actually had been, but when it didn't the results were wide-ranging, damaging and completely unpredictable. On top of the accidental arson he had managed to levitate himself so that he hit the ceiling on another attempt every single book had floated out of the various bookcases. He'd even managed to explode Flitwick's hat on his last try, in other circumstances this would have been hilarious but it had just added to his frustration.

"I believe we should leave it there, Harry. I think Madame Pomphrey should come along tomorrow, there's something other than the phoenix effect at play here. You've shown considerably more power today than you ever have during one of my lessons. Even in your 6th year when you should have been close to or at your full power."

"Huh?"

During someone's adolescent your core gradually grows until around your 17th birthday, once that's taken place each person is left with their resting magic level, or your RML if you will, it's the level of magic that is available to someone. It's usually taken first thing in the morning as people don't perform magic whilst they sleep so it gives the purest reading. However it is not my area of expertise so Poppy will be better able to explain it all to you tomorrow."

"Will you still be teaching me?"

"Yes the longer your magic is allowed to roam free, as it were, the more difficult and dangerous it will become to control in the long term." Harry was suddenly reminded of Dumbledore's sister Ariana meanwhile Flitwick continued, "Relax, Harry, it is not going as poorly as you think. Most with your injury would be struggling to lift the feather at all. If it makes you feel better it means you'll likely be able to use your magic normally much faster than we believed." With that Harry showed his teacher to the door and said goodbye before releasing a large breath.


	9. A House is not a Home

**Disclaimer: I own no part of Harry Potter or his universe that honour goes to J.K. Rowling. The chapter title is a Burt Bacarach song even if the first pla** **ce I heard it was on Glee**

A House is not a Home

He jangled the set of keys in his hand to settle his nerves as he walked down the muggle street. He sighed as he thought that he would rather be doing anything else on the planet than this job. He had no choice though, he has to do it for Teddy as he can hardly do it himself and he was damned if he was going to allow Harry to do it with everything else going on with him. It was important as these were the only pieces of Teddy's family he was going to have but that didn't make it easier. So here he was walking towards the Tonks' house. The worst part of it is that as he approaches he can remember the previous time he had been here. A lifetime ago he'd come for Tonks's 17th, it had been his first time travelling like a muggle as apparition and flooing had been disallowed so as not to alert any of Tonks's local friends to magic. He'd been able to hear the music from all the way down the street and people were spilling out of the house in all directions having fun together. Quentin, his boyfriend at the time, had greeted him with a rather large kiss in front of everyone,even Tonks's elderly relatives, that had caused him to laugh and blush brightly. There was none of that now, instead the street is empty and he can hear his heavy boots on the pavement. Fortunately Tonks's had packed up her old flat had been packed up after the news that her father had been killed, which meant that he only had to do this once. Others, he wasn't sure who, had come here in the first couple of days to get the necessities for Teddy but they hadn't removed anything that wasn't directly related to his immediate needs.

When he reached the house the bright red door looked exactly the same as it had before, waiting for it's family to return. He slipped the key in the lock and made his way inside carefully. It had been long enough for a small layer of dust to have formed and the bread and milk to have gone mouldy but not the butter when he looked through the kitchen. He tried to go about it as methodically as possible as he wasn't sure when someone would be back. As legally it was Teddy's but it could not stay empty for the next few years. Currently they were thinking either of selling it and keeping the profits in a trust for when he was older or offering it to Ron and Hermione when they returned from Australia. Personally he thought it was a great plan or at least knew what Harry's long term plans were. He knew that even were capable of making Grimmauld Place truly habitable again Harry would never want to live there. It would be too painful what with his memories of Sirius and the time he had spent hiding there with Ron and Hermione. It was a house filled with far too many ghosts to ever be a home.

The downstairs was relatively simple as he merely went through shrinking what he could and placing it in Hermione's enchanted bag, leaving most of the furniture so the place wouldn't look completely bare. He only slowed down when he got to the photos, both framed and albums, as shrinking could damage them so he put them in his own satchel. Unfortunately the first bedroom he reached at the top of the stairs was Tonks's childhood one. He was immediately drawn to the large number of photos still stuck on the wall and in particular one taken at their graduation party and for reasons that now escape him he's twirling Tonks around as if they're ballroom dancing. However he does know that about a minute after the picture was taken they'd fallen in a heap as Tonks had tripped over her feet and taken him with her. Looking around he can see multiple copies of all his old friends and he can't quite take in how young and carefree they all look. Certainly Harry and his friends, despite being roughly the same age, have never looked this content. It's even weirder to see the different couples people made, sure there were a few like Patrick and Elena who were still together and now that the war was over would probably pop out a sprog or two in the near future but most had gone the way of the dodo. Extinct. Of course even harder were the pictures of those who had died in the war, including Tonks herself. To see who they had been when he could remember what their corpses now looked like. It was not that they had been best friends but they had studied for their Defense NEWT together and were often in the same large group at the three broomsticks but they had never reached the core parts of who each of them were. He had never seen Tonks's true face except in death which hadn't seemed to be her true face at all.

As he took them down carefully it was even harder than he had thought it would be. He almost regretted turning down various well meaning offers to accompany him, particularly his father or Bill. They were the only two, at least until he got together with Harry, he allowed himself to be truly vulnerable in front of. Once he had become a teenager he had struggled against his mother's overprotectiveness and their relationship had always been a little strained ever since particularly after he had moved to Romania doing such a dangerous job. His father, however, had always quietly supported him whether that meant listening to him babble hundreds of Dragon facts to him whilst he took apart muggle contraptions in the shed or the steadfast support he had offered when Charlie turned down the offer of a couple of Quidditch trials to study dragons. He had always thought that they were actually the most similar in character out of all the family. Dedicating their lives to their biggest passion rather than the more worn path. As for Bill he was all you could want in a big brother. They had become particularly close after they had both left home and were no longer on top of each other all the time. During their time off they had often combined resources and travelled magical Europe or Africa rather than return home, much to their mother's consternation.

It eventually got to the point that he had to stop what he was doing because the tears were too thick to see through so instead he just curled up on the bed. It was the first time he had truly let his guard down since the battle, or more honestly Bill's wedding, and now that he had given in, he couldn't seem to stop. Intellectually he knew the tears were healthy and that they were an essential part of the grieving process but that didn't make him feel any better. Eventually he stopped heaved himself back up and returned to his task. Once he had sorted out everything in the room and could move onto, what he hoped were, less emotionally distressing rooms. He had only taken a fraction of the stuff in the room instead he had organised everything to be given to various friends. This was not Tonks the wife and mother but Tonks the slightly crazy teenager and she belonged to others more than she did to her son.

Thankfully the master bedroom gave him a chance to regroup as he had barely known either occupant and someone, probably Andromeda, had already begun to pack up their stuff. There was even a list about what should go to whom at the top it explained that whoever they were hadn't wanted to write a new will with Voldemort being so powerful . He pocketed the belongings left to the Lupins' along with a letter for Teddy and burning the ones to Tonks and Lupin. It was nobody else's right to know what had been written on them. He didn't bother with either bathroom as he knew from the original sweep that no personal belongings were stored there Instead he headed towards the final door on the landing and what must have been the room that Tonks and Lupin had shared.

The room was much less of a gut punch than her old bedroom had been. There was nothing on display that immediately set him off. There were obvious gaps where things like the crib had been but otherwise it was surprisingly tidy almost as if it's occupants had known they wouldn't be returning when they'd rushed off. There seemed to be little of personal value to either just a few paperbacks and their clothes so he realised that the house must either have had a cellar or attic for them to store their stuff in. Going through everything was quick as he took the books and a couple of Lupin's jackets before packing rest of it away to be donated. He didn't want to take them with him he thought that presenting an older Teddy with entirety of his parents wardrobes was a little extreme.

Finally he got to the last area, the attic after he had checked the ceiling for a trap door. He had pulled down the rickety stairs and made his way up only to be surprised by what he saw. . There was not a lot, only three school trunks, but that didn't make it any less heartbreaking or his dread over how exactly he would have to explain this to Harry. Not only was there Lupin's battered trunk but the remaining two were engraved with J.C. Potter and L. M. Evans respectively. He couldn't bare to look inside any of them until Harry could but that didn't stop the irrational burst of anger towards Lupin for keeping them a secret from Harry for so long. When he must have realised how desperate he was to learn more about his parents. He roughly stuffed each of the trunks into the groaning bag but not without noticing a letter to Harry on top of Lupin's. So he plucked it off and shoved it in his pocket as the first thing to give to Harry. Before leaving the house for potentially the last time he washed his face and did a quick look round to make sure that he'd got everything. As he made his way out the door slammed with a satisfying sound and walked away back to an alleyway to safely apparate back to his waiting family.

* * *

 **A/N 2: Sorry for the delay but the blame rests on A) this chapter and the rest of this particular arc needing to be edited together for ,hopefully, coherence and emotional pay-off. B) the fact that this story keeps on growing orginally I had planned it to be about 10-15 chapters max and now I'm already at over 20 either planned or written and there's still more I want to cover and C) me being just a tad lazy in the last couple of weeks.**

 **Also I've been terrible at this so far but thank you all so much if you've taken the time to review/follow/fave this story it makes my day.**


	10. Writing to Reach You

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter Universe.**

 **A/N: Thank you to you everyone who has followed/favourited or reviewed. Also I'm away for the next week as it's half-term here in the UK so it's likely that my next chapter will be a little delayed as I won't get a chance to edit it.**

* * *

Writing to Reach You

Harry was in a particularly bad mood, his lesson with Flitwick had been nothing short of a disaster and whatever was going on with his magic had somehow been misdiagnosed. To make matters worse his boyfriend and baby were nowhere to be found. He knew Teddy was spending the day at Shell Cottage but Charlie's whereabouts were a mystery. It made him nervous as he thought that Charlie would have mentioned it to him if something important had happened or he had made some sort of plans for the morning. He couldn't stop his mind running through all the worst case scenarios whilst they had lunch or through the following couple of hours. He spent his time pretending to read a book but actually continually glanced at the clock in the corner. Only the fact that Charlie's hand was not pointing towards Mortal danger had stopped him from forcing the issue with anyone else as they all seemed to have a much better idea where Charlie was than he did. Instead he satisfied himself with running to the front door when he heard it open and slapping his boyfriend hard on the shoulder for making him worry. He immediately felt guilty when he took in Charlie's face, he had obvious tear tracks and looked more weary than he had ever seen before.

"What the hell happened to you? I thought you were going to spend the morning in the paddock with everyone else. I've been so worried since you didn't come back with them."

"I went to the Tonks' to sort out their stuff and pack away the things that I thought Teddy might want to have in the future."

"Oh babe," He never normally called Charlie any particular term of endearment , they just reminded of him of his Aunt Petunia and Dudley, but he couldn't help himself this time as his boyfriend just looked so devastated. When he began to stroke his boyfriend's face Charlie nuzzled in and placed a light kiss on his palm.

"Charlie, is that you? There are leftovers on the side if you want them" Mrs Weasley said from the top of the stairs carrying a basket of laundry.

"Okay, thanks Mum. Hey come and sit with me in the kitchen a minute, micuto. We need to talk about some of the stuff I got at the Tonks'." They made their way to the kitchen and rather than digging into the available sandwiches Charlie waved his wand around to cast a number of privacy spells and then sat opposite him taking both of his hands in his. "Harry, there's no easy way to say this but Lupin had your parents trunks stored away in the attic."

"He did?! Why didn't he tell me?"

"I don't know but there was a letter on the top of them in what I assume is his handwriting."

"Can I see it?"

"Of course." and he withdrew a slightly crumpled envelope out of his pocket and handed it over. Harry tore it open and pocketed the two keys that fell out before he began to read the letter whilst Charlie ate his sandwiches.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _Firstly if you're reading this letter then I have passed on and gone to join your parents and Sirius. As you have this letter then I can only hope that you also have your parents trunks, they are charmed to stay together. I must apologise for never giving them to you personally however I must admit to being unable to pass them on to you until you came of age, your mother really was a most exceptional charms mistress. I think she wanted to make sure that you were mature enough to deal with whatever is inside, I do not know what, or perhaps it was to keep you out should they survive. I suppose I should tell you the story of how I got them in the first place. When they learned of the prophecy and the danger it placed you in they began to split their belongings and they gave me their trunks to look after._

 _Now I am sure you are desperate to see inside the trunks so I will only say that It has been an honour to know you Harry. You are the best of both your parents and it is to my shame that I have had such a small amount of time with you._

 _Yours Faithfully,_

 _Remus_

After he was done reading Harry wasn't exactly sure what to think. He had never had so much from his parents, nothing at all until he'd re-entered the magical world, and yet… What if what he found didn't live up to his expectations? He could still vividly remember each of his trips into Snape's memories and how they coloured the way he viewed his parents. He would never be able to unlearn whatever he found in there, it was a change from his usual insatiable ancient myth of Pandora's box crossed his mind and he mentally reminded himself that there was unlikely to be evil spirits within them. Just a lot of painful memories.

"Harry? Are you okay?" He hadn't noticed that Charlie had come around the table and was now sitting next to him or that he put his arms around him until he spoke. "You've been sitting staring at that letter for a couple of minutes."

"Yeah, I just…wasn't expecting it. I'm not sure what I want to do."

"Did his letter explain?"

"yeah he said there mum put a charm on them so I wouldn't be able to open them until I was 17 and then well…"

"Voldemort was ruling the country and you were public enemy number 1."

"Exactly. I just... I don't know whether I want to open them. What if it isn't what I thought, it just raises a load of questions and I don't know anyone left that can answer them."

"If you're not ready for them then I can shrink them and keep them safe until you are." Charlie said whilst rubbing rhythmic circles on his back to calm him.

"No…no…I want to know." he said more surely than he actually felt. "Keeping them closed will just mean I'll obsess over what could possibly be in there rather than what I know is."

"So which first?"

"Mum's. I've had Sirius and Lupin tell me stories about my dad but most of what I know about my mum comes from Snape's memories."

He went over to the trunk and began to open each of the compartments just as Dumbledore had done when looking for Moody at the end of his fourth year. When he opened the top layer a letter almost hit him in the face as it flew out of the trunk and fluttered in front of him like a non-irate howler. He grabbed it and passed it to Charlie before asking him to read it aloud to him.

 _20th Nov. 1980_

 _My dearest- darlingest Har-bear_

 _You must be squirming now if everything has gone to plan you'll be a teenager and deeply embarrassed by everything your parents do. I can only hope that I'm getting read this next to you. However we saw Dumbledore today and he told us the prophecy and I just cannot imagine that you have such future struggle ahead of you. My little boy. If the I'm not with you now, know this that neither your father or I could ever regret giving our lives for you. If we were giving the choice a thousand times we would always do whatever it took to keep you safe. Not because the destiny that Dumbledore believes could be yours but because we love you more than life itself. When you have your own children, and you're not allowed to die before you do, you'll understand that there's no end to a parent's love. I promise I am not usually so mushy,as you hopefully know, but being told that your child has a 50/50 chance of doing battle with Voldemort and no guarantee of success affects someone._

 _So onto practicalities before this becomes illegible. Inside are a number of things, both muggle and wizarding, that I think are important for you to have and were mine to give. I'd like to point out a few to you. Firstly included are all my school books and a diary for each year from the beginning of 2nd year to now. I've got my current one charmed so that it'll go in the trunk once it's full. Secondly is something that I hope you won't be needing for a number of years but included are my nana Evans, my grandmothers were both called Violet, engagement ring and along with her and Grandad's wedding rings You don't have to use them but I wanted you to have the option when you're ready. Don't worry about who you pick as long as they love you with their whole heart then your father and I couldn't be happier for you. You should have the Potter rings to bestow as well, I'll leave that for James to explain as he understands wizarding inheritance and customs far better than I. One of the few advantages of a pureblood upbringing however ask your father to use a muggle train and he somehow ends up in Aberdeen rather than London (the fact that there was more than one platform confused him!). Anyway you'll be able to read about that so I'll get back to my list, all my old spell books as well as the stuff I used post-school to start my mastery. I know you'll be near the end of your education but they may well be useful for your NEWT year and beyond. Also Sirius had a terrible time as he had burned all his OWL work in a fit of teenage rebellion and then spent the entire time borrowing your fathers or Remus's stuff and I wanted to save you that just in case you'd done something similar. Not that you should engage in casual vandalism but you have James Potter as a father and three marauders as honoury uncles so I'm not holding my breath._

 _With that I shall say goodbyes my darling Har-Bear. I shall love you always even if I am no longer there to wipe your tears and see your smiles._

 _Live happy darling, it is the most important thing anyone can do._

 _Mum xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Once Charlie was done reading Harry took the opportunity to climb into his lap and they gently rocked together neither one saying anything for awhile. The silencing charms kept out the noise from the rest of the house and its numerous occupants as they comforted each other. He took the opportunity to get his tears under control and

Eventually Harry croaked, "So it turns out that sugary sweet nicknames seems to be genetic."

Charlie chuckled weakly before replying, "So do you wanna read your dad's letter or start going through your mum's stuff?"

"Can we get her diaries and then you read my dad's letter?"

"Sure thing." Rather using a summoning charm, to avoid accidental damage, they both started to lift books out of the trunk. Fortunately the diaries were close to the top and once they were done Harry had a stack of nine books the earliest few were thick but simple notebooks but from her 6th year they were beautiful leather bound journals. They swiftly returned the various other books back into the trunk.

"Ready for your dad's letter?"

"Yep", and he went through the same procedure to open the other trunk but this time the letter didn't fly out but was merely lying on top of his father's belongings.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I shall start with what Lily wanted me to say about wizarding inheritance as she's lying in my lap as I write this. Hopefully you've been raised knowing the customs of our world, even if it's not by us, but there's always the possibility that you weren't. The boys and Dumbledore have instructions to raise you predominately in the muggle world to keep you as safe as possible, should we die. Lily has even been giving Padfoot muggle lessons to help him blend in, just in case. I got the same treatment before I met her family for the first time. Anyway back to the topic as an orphan, until you come of age Gringotts witholds all but the interest from the family accounts from was designed to protect the funds from being embezzled by a nefarious guardian. After your birthday you'll need to claim it by asking the goblins for access to your full inheritance. I placed everything I could in the vault. For future reference you can't put sentinent paintings under these terms as it intereferes with the enchantments but pretty much everything else is all right (some potion ingredients don't keep well but are not actively dangerous). The first time you visit Gringotts after your birthday and claim your inheritance they will provide you with a list of everything that's there as well as you being allowed to decide who is allowed access rather than whoever had the key as it has been in the past. Be careful Harry whoever you put on will have them same spending power as you so think hard about it. For instance I didn't add your mum until we were formally engaged. Once you get into the vault, and deeper into my trunk, you'll find books about wizarding customs and such like so I'll leave it there._

 _Now that the dull bits out of the way lets get down to business. Please, please take after your mother she is a much better human being than your dear old dad. Sirius and I were arrogant bullies through much of our Hogwarts careers and I would hate to see you follow in my footsteps in that regard. I did a lot of things I can only think about with shame now and I dread having to tell you about them. Trust me when I say this it will make wooing whoever you decide on much easier if they do not believe you to be the biggest prat of Hogwarts. However should you win the Quidditch Cup, no matter the house, yes really even Slytherin, then I could not be prouder of you. Pay particular attention to the redheads apparently an ancestor laughed at a witch's ginger hair and she cursed the male Potter line to only fall in love with redheads as punishment. I don't know whether the stories true but the family tree certainly bears it out. How the Potter mop survived i really do not know. I'm sure your mum or Moony would know of some sort of charm to make it pop up in every generation._

 _The day you were born was the proudest, and most terrifying, of my life. I knew at that moment that I would give my life for yours in less than a heartbeat._

 _Like you forever_

 _Love you for always_

 _Dad xxxxx_

"Well it turns out you fell in love with me because of a curse from a spurned lover. Do you think that means if I die or lose my hair then you won't love me anymore?" Harry understood that his boyfriend was trying to cheer him up but all it accomplished as him holding on even tighter and manically shaking his head into his chest the weight of the day hitting him.

"No, I love your hair but that's not why I'm with you."

"It isn't? Damn I so thought it was." Harry couldn't stop himself smiling weakly at that.

"Thank you. For doing this back at the house and reading my letters for me. It would have been unbearable without you here."

"Do you want to look through or keep cuddling?"

"Keep cuddling, please"


	11. Fix You

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter universe that honour goes to JKR.**

 **A/N: I'm back! I took slightly longer than I had planned away but it wasn't in vain as I reorgainised my written chapters so they made more chronological sense as well as working on a couple of new ones. The title is one of my favourite Coldplay songs.**

 **As always thank you for all favs, follows and reviews.**

* * *

Fix You

Charlie wasn't sure how long they spent tangled together on the floor but eventually he realised that not only was Teddy's return imminent but he currently had the kitchen under every ward he knew which would likely worry the rest of the family. "Harry, we need to move. We can't keep the family out of the kitchen and Fleur will be bringing Teddy back soon."

"Yeah, okay. Just let me splash some water on my face." Harry's voice was more croaky than usual from the aftermath of his tears.

"Good plan, I'll do the same." They both went over to the sink and wiped their faces before checking each other to make sure they had got rid of their tear tracks. "You ready?" Harry nodded and he waved his wand to drop the wards. A moment later Ron, Hermione and Ginny fell through the doorway. Ron immediately jumped up and covered his eyes with his hands whilst his girlfriend and sister took a little longer to get upright.

"Please tell me you're not naked."

"Why would we be naked?" Harry asked looking bemused.

"You've been behind some serious wards for over an hour and George…" Ron explained growing more and more red.

"Ron you really must stop believing everything one of the twins tells you. It's like the troll all over again." Charlie huffed as he realised the trick George had played.

"How do you know about that? You were already in Romania?" Ron asked in his particular mix of chagrin and anger.

"Because Bill and I told them the same story when they started. Only they enchanted their bats to follow us around after they'd taught themselves how. They only stopped after one of the Slytherin beaters used it to try and knock me unconscious."

"Didn't even get punished for it…" George reminisced as the twins joined them all in the kitchen.

"Bertram thought it had been Davis all along." Fred added

"Bertram was the DADA teacher that year." Charlie explained at their various blank looks.

"Why didn't they stay?"

"Mother got sick, I think. The professors only started meeting properly sticky ends when you arrived Harry." Fred said clapping Harry on the back.

"Not that reminiscing about ancient times isn't fun but what's with the trunks? Mum will kill you if you make a run for it again." Ginny asked with a grin that quickly disappeared when Harry answered her.

"My parent's trunks, Lupin had them in the Tonks's attic. Charlie brought them with the stuff he packed up for Teddy."

" _Oh Harry!"_ Hermione sighed with compassion whilst the rest of them looked at him in various degrees of pity.

"I haven't actually looked through anything, they both wrote me letters and reading them kinda wiped me out so we haven't got any further." He added.

"Hey everyone, we have Teddy here." Bill's voice came through from the sitting room as he and Fleur stepped out the floo carrying Teddy.

"We're all in the kitchen, we're going through some of the stuff Charlie brought back from the Tonks'." Ron called through.

~o0o~

They were in bed before they next got a chance to talk about Harry's morning. Once his mother had found out about what he had discovered she had spent the rest of the day fussing over them both as they sorted through what Charlie had brought back for Teddy. Then dinner had been dominated by Fred explaining how his first physio appointment had gone and all his dad's questions about muggle healing. They were snuggling together when he asked "So how did your lesson with Flitwick go this morning?"

"Oh god, it was terrible Lee. I set multiple pieces of furniture on fire, exploded Flitwick's hat and gave myself a goose egg by hitting the ceiling. Don't worry I put on some of the twins bruise cream so I'm fine now." Harry said quickly at what must have been a look of concern on his face. "He's going to ask Madame Pomphrey to check my resting magical level. He thinks that I'm a lot more powerful now than I ever was at school. From what he said I think the Horcrux blocked or used up a lot of my magic so I couldn't use it for spells."

"Yeah Dumbledore said something to that effect when we talked whilst you were unconscious. Will anything change in your treatment if it turns out you are more powerful than they were expecting?"

"I'd have to do some control exercises along with learning of spells but the main thing is that it could mean that my magic's back to normal faster. Apparently normally when people have something like this they have to build their magic back up which is why it takes so long."

"Do you think we should get in touch with Healer Thompson about it?"

"I didn't think to ask but Madame Pomphrey will be coming with Professor Vector tomorrow so we can ask her about it."

~o0o~

The first thing he was aware of the next morning was the tell-tale wail of an unhappy baby. "Urgh, too early" he groaned alerting his boyfriend, who was trying to comfort Teddy, that he was awake.

Harry laughingly said, "You're almost as bad as Ron. Come along sleepyhead you know we're only a couple of moments away from your mother coming in. She must be almost done with breakfast by now." Harry said tapping his foot with one of his own.

"You're far too happy for this time in the morning." He mumbled as he rolled out of bed.

"Well I got a full night of sleep." Harry all but gloated.

"Teddy didn't wake up?"

"Nope, not once the clever little guy."

"Thank god for magic."

"Huh?"

"Magical children develop faster than other babies it's something to do with the formation of our cores, I don't really know, I can't say that I ever gave it much attention. Bors takes everyone off the most dangerous dragons until their children are regularly sleeping through as a safety precaution. Slowed reactions from lack of sleep can mean the difference between being burned to a crisp and getting away uninjured."

"Is that why you're normally put with them, then?" Charlie's heart gave a little skip at Harry remembering something he'd only mentioned in passing in one of his letters.

"Yeah, pretty much. Obviously we can't have the more inexperienced tamers in there and they're usually the ones without kids so that limits the number anyway. Then some choose to specialize in the nursery or in one of the less dangerous breeds."

"Breakfast! Come along, otherwise Ron will eat all the sausages before you get down!" They heard Ginny shout from the stairs, Harry waited for Charlie to quickly pull on some jeans and a t-shirt. They shared a grin over Ginny, who looked almost exactly like a much younger version of their mother with her hands on hips, waiting for them at the bottom. "You know if I knew Hermione would so good at getting Ron up I think I might not have worked so hard to try and get them together." She said at a normal volume as they passed her which caused them both to snort.

~o0o~

They had just finished eating when they heard the floo bell go and two of the Hogwarts staff stepped out. His mother was the first to speak, "Septima, Poppy?! Is something wrong? I thought it was only professors who were helping Harry."

Before either woman could answer Harry spoke, "I'm sorry Mrs Weasley, this is my fault. I forgot to mention that Madame Pomphrey would be coming too. Yesterday didn't go as expected and Prof. Flitwick wanted her to take my RML to see whether I've had a increase in power."

"Indeed Molly, Filius told me that he managed to levitate the feathers at least 60ft during their lesson yesterday."

Only Charlie heard Harry's mumble, "Sure when I wasn't setting anything alight". He stroked his disgruntled boyfriend's back to comfort him.

"Mr Potter if you'll follow me, we'll go to another room so other people don't interfere with the accuracy of the test. If you wish I could also give Teddy a quick check-up after to save you an extra trip to Mungo's."

"Yeah that'd be great." Harry stood gave Teddy to him and followed the healer out of the room.

"What does RML mean?" Ron asked as soon as the door had closed.

"Your resting magic level is the amount of magic that witch or wizard had access to perform day-to-day spells rather than your core power. It's used as a guide to how powerful someone is but it's not completely fool-proof. There are certain circumstances that can lead to an inaccurate reading."

"What kind of circumstances?"

"The most common reason is that the witch or wizard is under age. Someone's core doesn't stop fully maturing until you're around 17 so it makes the results deeply inaccurate as your core isn't a consistent size. Then once you're an adult either other people, particularly if they are more powerful, or highly magical objects can affect it. Or less likely if your fight/flight reflex is engaged then that can affect the reading but the likelihood of someone casting diagnostic spells when you're in a dangerous situation is limited." Hermione explained in, what he believed, was her usual manner.

"Thanks Hermione, don't know what we'd do without you to tell me things." He replied kissing her on the cheek.

"Indeed Miss Granger that was an excellent summary." Prof. Vector praised causing one of her best pupils to blush brightly.

"Why didn't he have this test when we went to Mungo's, we were there for hours."

"They were likely focusing on his core as that seemed to be thing that was damaged. Unfortunately the healer probably didn't think it was necessary with his list of symptoms." Professor Vector explained, "I did my mastery in the magical potential of cores so I know a little about it from my research." She added to reassure them.

They sat in silent contemplation and worry for a few minutes until Harry and Madame Pomphrey returned. If he was reading his boyfriend correctly then he was embarrassed by whatever Madame Pomphrey had found and was wishing that he wasn't going to the center of attention for once. The aforementioned medi-witch just looked kind of shell-shocked, an expression that he had never seen on her face before. Not even when he taken Joe to see her half transformed into a rabbit.

"Well don't keep us in suspense, mate. What did it say?" Ron asked cheerily.

"Apparently I have an RML in the same range as Dumbledore and not a whole lot of other people." Harry said as he rubbed the back of neck and looked down.

"Well no wonder you beat the snake-faced bastard!"


	12. Superman (It's not easy)

**DISCLAIMER: I own no part of the Harry Potter Universe.**

 **A/N: This is not beta'd and I'm currently fighting the cold from hell while trying to make various tinsel halos (It's a long story) so I can't vouch for the proof reading. I'm hoping to go through all the existing chapters of this over xmas and clear up all the stupid errors that have crept in.**

 **Title is one of my favourite songs by Five for Fighting**

* * *

Superman (It's Not Easy)

 _…"Well no wonder you beat the snake-faced bastard!"_

He really wasn't comfortable with the looks his 'family' were giving him. Although Mrs. Weasley was glaring at Ron for his use of a swear word everyone else was looking at him with various degrees of awe.

"What was Mr Potter's score exactly?" Prof. Vector asked.

"92.5 When Dumbledore was in prime he registered a 94 although by the time of his death it had degraded with age and ill-health to the low 80's." Madame Pomphrey replied.

"No wonder you were able to cast a corporeal patronus at 13!" Hermione mused

Harry spluttered, "But…but you came top of the year in all our exams. Not to mention keeping me alive for the last seven years which I really haven't made easy at times."

"Thank you" she said blushing and Harry thought he really hadn't thanked her enough for all help, "but you're wrong about exams you got a better OWL than me in Defence and any year with an unbiased teacher you've been top of the year. Even in other subjects you are far more comfortable with actually performing the spell than the theoretical behind it. Plus when you really put your mind to something it tends to be more powerful than it should have been. I doubt I would have been able to summon your firebolt from the tower even if I could correctly summon pillows before you. It is extensive reading and working on the theory behind spells that allows me to do well at school. I'm top of the year because I work harder than most people and have a better memory. I doubt I'm more than averagely powerful I struggled more with the patronus charm than you did and my otter is considerably smaller and less dense than Prongs. They usually give some indication to your strength. Gladwell says it's not that everyone can't correctly perform the charm it is that some people don't have the necessary power or purity to maintain their particular animal. As I haven't been performing any dark magic it's got to be an issue of power."

"Thank you for that Miss Granger, now that Harry's shared his news I believe I have an infant to check on and no doubt Septima is eager to begin." Madame Pomphrey said with her most stern tone.

"Alright everyone you heard Poppy, out you go. Your father refilled the floo powder this morning so there's plenty for your use."

"Thanks mum me and Fred won't be back until late as we're going to be sorting out the shop."

"Of course dears, I'll put a warming charm on your dinner then."

Once everyone had cleared out with Charlie following Madame Pomphrey for Teddy's check-up. He asked, "Do you want us in the garden like yesterday, Professor? Please call me Harry as well."

"Thank you Harry and I don't think that'll be necessary as Transfiguration is much less likely to cause the sort of damage an overpowered charm can. Charms requires you to release your magic outwards without any real direction whereas transfiguration focuses much more tightly on the object you're trying to transform. Even you do manage set anything alight it will likely only be the needle and they are hardly flammable. However I wish to start with your exercises. From now on until your magic is more stable we'll begin each class in the same manner."

"Okay what do I need to do?"

"Nothing too strenuous I assure you. It is nothing more than a particular type of meditation."

"Um...I had personal lessons with Sn-Professor Snape in my 5th year and any time I tried to empty my mind it didn't go well."

"Ah yes, your remedial potions that were not truly such. I suppose he was teaching you Occlumency?"

"How did you know?"

"I didn't it was, however, the only logical explanation. Almost any other branch of magic another teacher would have been able to instruct you. Something that no doubt would have made your learning much less stressful." She finished with a smile before continuing, "I do not have too many worries about your abilities. The blockage in your mind particularly with the damage it did to your core upon removal likely affected your mental facilities as well. No doubt some of your struggles with the theoretical side of magic were due to that rather than your intelligence of lack thereof. Plus you are no longer being hounded by Voldemort or vilified for the minister's political positions. I would wager that you were wound rather tight that year."

"Okay, so what I do I do this time?"

"Yes, If you close your eyes you'll likely find it easier to concentrate." following her advice he shut his eyes and tried to shut down his mind just as he had done before. Just as Vector had suggested it was much easier than it had ever been in the dungeons. "Good that's excellent progress, now I want you to focus on what it feels like to perform a spell."

"Does it matter which?"

"No it's about the pathways your magic takes. Although I would suggest not thinking of something particularly offensive or something beyond your OWLs." It took him a moment to decide then he decided on the shield charm. He had used it often and it was neither particularly damaging nor complex. As he thought about it he could feel his core warming and then slowly tendrils began to reach out in every direction.

"What can you feel?"

"It feels like my core expanding...reaching out to other parts of my body."

"Excellent. That is further than I thought we would get, please open your eyes for me and I'll explain the next stage for you." He opened his eyes and then blinked owlishly a couple of times before readjusting to the light.

"Wow that was weird. I've never felt my magic like that before."

"Most don't, it's enough that whatever they can achieve whatever they're attempting. What spell did you pick?"

" _Protego."_

"Good choice. When you have a spare five minutes I want you to think about other spells and how they feel to cast. Eventually once you're used to that we'll work on manipulating your magic so that those tendrils are concentrated down your wand arm as they should be. As you do it more often you'll get the feeling of how different branches of magic have their own unique flavour."

~o0o~

 _That went far better than last time_ , he couldn't help but think as he waved goodbye to Professor Vector. After they'd moved on from the meditation he'd spent the rest of their time transfiguring matchsticks into needles just as he had 7 years ago for Professor McGonagall.

"How'd it go, micuţo?" Charlie asked coming up to him with Teddy strapped to his chest as Harry turned away from the front door.

"Good, I managed to do everything she asked without causing total devastation to the area around me."

"Always a good thing" Charlie replied with a teasing grin.

"Yeah, what did Madame Pomphrey say about Teddy? I didn't get a chance to ask her before she left. "

"He's in perfect shape for a baby his age, he's actually a little more advanced physically than usual for his age but she said that's common with metamorphagi and nothing to worry about. I wanted to ask you about something else."

"Go for it. Is something the matter?"

"Not exactly but you remember meeting a few of my friends at the Lupins' and the Tonks' funeral right? How they wanted to meet my new guy."

Yeah, why?"

"Well I was thinking now that all the family knows there's no real reason to hide it away from my friends. I think it'd be good to get out of the house for a while and mums would be happy to look after Teddy for the evening. We could make it a second date or something."

"Would it just be Patrick and Elena or would there be others?"

"Probably a few others unless you didn't want that and we could go on a different evening then."

"Yeah that sounds good, It'll be nice to get out of the house for a little while as well."

"So you want to head upstairs and spend some time alone. We have the house to ourselves." Charlie asked him with a leer.

"Lee you have Teddy strapped to your chest. We can't." Harry pouted back.

"I'll take him. Michael's at Terry Boot's, they're going through some of their 6th year stuff to prep for 8th year, he's such a Ravenclaw sometimes." Ginny said as she came out into the hall from the floo.

"Thanks Gin" Charlie said kissing her on the cheek

"Yeah thanks, Ginny"

"No need to thank me except to remember your silencing charms." She said with a wink while lifting Teddy out of the papoose and making baby noises at him as she took him into the living room to play. They quickly headed upstairs holding hands as they went.

When they reached their room Harry felt himself spun and pressed into the door as Charlie shut it behind them. It was only a second later and they were kissing passionately. The empty papoose was the first to go quickly followed by both their shirts as they continued rubbing together. Harry had just unzipped Charlie's jeans and stuck his hand inside his boxers when they heard Mrs. Weasley's voice on the other side of the door instantly stilling their movement. "Charlie your boss is in the floo and he says it's urgent."

"Okay mum won't be a moment." Charlie replied and Harry could see the effort he was making to make his voice sound the same as it usually did. Charlie quickly did up his fly and shoved his t-shirt back on and headed downstairs leaving Harry still dazed.

o0o

When he made his own way downstairs he met Hermione coming the other way. "Hey come chat in my room, it feels like we haven't spoken in ages."

"Yeah, sure thing." he said following her into Ginny's room. Once they'd sat he continued, "I'm sorry for neglecting you. It just so much has been going on."

"It's fine, we've both been busy with other things. You've been spending time with Teddy and Charlie and Ron and I have had our Australia trip to plan. Plus as much as I love you we needed a break from each other after so long together without anyone else around."

"Yeah I guess. It just seems weird that we went from being in each other's pockets to barely speaking other than at meal times."

"I know, I mean it's been so odd to think that you aren't coming with the two of us when we go to Oz. I almost asked the travel agent for three tickets before remembering you weren't coming with us. Not that I blame you, you've finally got the thing you've always wanted. Besides maybe with you on the other side of the world we may actually be able to have relaxing time you know rather than battling giant serpents or breaking into government property."

"Well you've got nothing to worry about. Can't be expelled anymore, can you?"

"Ha, ha, Harry very funny." She said before rolling her eyes.

"I try." He replied before changing the subject. "How are you and Ron getting along? There haven't been any major rows have there?"

"No, I mean we still bicker but there's less of a nasty edge now and I think leaving us on the hunt really matured him. He's been the one that sorted out all our school stuff and I even found him practising non-verbal casting with Neville without being nagged."

"What about you and Charlie? It must be nice being able to share a room."

"Yeah it definitely helps with the nightmares and with Teddy's night feeds.

"So you aren't having sex yet?"

"We haven't gone all the way yet as I'm not sure whether I'm ready or not. I thought I was last summer but now I'm confused. I know I love him but there just seems to be some sort of mental block that hasn't allowed me to give the okay again. It's like now there isn't some major time pressure I can't make a decision. It doesn't help that he's so much more experienced than me. What if I'm bad at it? Or it's really painful he's told me that his first time wasn't that great."

"Okay firstly I'm not sure that there is a wrong way to do it as long everyone involved has happily consented. Secondly I've got some leaflets that my parents gave me about sex when they gave me the safe sex talk if you want to look at them. I mean the mechanics won't be quite right as it's geared towards muggle heterosexuals but the emotional stuff is the same. You should speak to Charlie about the actual biology of it all maybe it'll help lessen your anxiety too, if he knows everything you're feeling."

Just then the man himself walked in putting an end to their conversation. Instead Harry asked him "what did Bors want with you?"

"Help with locating the Ironbelly you guys freed from Gringotts as I'm in the UK anyway. They think it's too weak to leave the UK as they've been searching Scandinavia and it hasn't appeared."

"How long will you be gone for?"

"A few days but I said I had to get back for the full moon because of Teddy."

"He knows about Teddy?"

"Not the full story, or your true identity but that my boyfriend and his ward are moving back with me, yes he does. I had to tell him for the accommodation change if nothing else. Either we'll move to a larger cabin or they'll add to my existing one."

"Which do you think is more likely?"

"Probably adding to the one I already live in as there isn't a free family cottage only other bachelor quarters or the communal tents the most junior trainers use."

"If he doesn't know about Teddy's parentage then what does he think you've got to get back for?"

"That he is a sickly baby and is going through some sort of medical procedure and I as his guardian's boyfriend want to be there to support you both. So you're really okay with this?"

"Yep, as long as you're back for the full then I'm okay. You don't have to leave right now do you?"

"Nope, I'll apparate in the morning. Thanks for being okay with this I need to go floo Joe to see if I can crash on his floor for the next couple of days." He bent down and kissed Harry's cheek before heading out of the room again.


End file.
